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

Word bank: kid · shower · content · pound · rule · fine

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fine — all right
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. pound — a weight
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. fine — high quality
  8. shower — rain
  9. rule — government
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. kid — to tease
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. rule — a law
  17. kid — child
  18. content — the amount

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