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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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Word bank
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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: bat · court · arm · scale · cold · face · wound · pound

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. face — to confront
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. face — part of the head
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. court — for sport
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. face — to point toward
  11. pound — a weight
  12. scale — size or range
  13. scale — in music
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. court — of a king
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. court — of law
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. arm — a part of something

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