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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. kid — to tease
  3. spring — of water
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. track — to keep track
  7. clip — to cut
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. spring — a coil
  10. race — humankind
  11. clip — a video
  12. kid — child
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. spring — the season
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. race — a contest
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. track — a path
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. race — the arms race
  23. pound — a weight
  24. track — a song

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