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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. last — final
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. pound — a weight
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. current — happening now
  10. current — electric
  11. mate — a partner
  12. current — of water
  13. mate — to breed
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mate — a friend
  16. last — to go on
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. ground — the earth
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. bark — to shout
  22. ground — crushed
  23. last — finally
  24. pound — to hit hard

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com