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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 124 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. stock — shares
  3. band — a ring
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. face — part of the head
  6. roll — a list
  7. ground — the earth
  8. band — a music group
  9. ground — crushed
  10. pound — a weight
  11. ground — a position
  12. capital — a city
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. face — to confront
  15. saw — the tool
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. saw — the tool
  19. capital — money
  20. face — to point toward
  21. stock — goods
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. roll — a cake

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