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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'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. firm — steady
  3. land — to come down
  4. kick — in football
  5. firm — decided
  6. rest — a break
  7. rest — what's left
  8. clip — for paper
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. land — ground
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. clip — to cut
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — rain
  15. pound — a weight
  16. clip — a video
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. firm — a company
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. land — a country
  24. rest — what's left

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