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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. content — happy
  4. bound — certain
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. shower — rain
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. bound — obliged
  9. shower — to wash
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. spring — of water
  12. pound — a weight
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. kid — child
  16. rule — government
  17. rule — a law
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. content — the amount
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bound — tied together
  23. spring — the season
  24. spring — a coil

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