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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: chest · bound · pit · cold · branch · wake · pound · land

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. land — ground
  4. pound — a weight
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bound — certain
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. wake — a trail
  12. pit — a hole
  13. chest — a box
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. branch — a division
  17. pit — in a race
  18. bound — tied together
  19. land — a country
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bound — obliged
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. land — to come down

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