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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: wound · pound · fall · row · mine · pop · cap · bat

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pop — soda
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. pop — to visit
  7. mine — for digging
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. pound — a weight
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wound — an injury
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cap — of ice
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cap — a hat
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. fall — to drop
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. fall — the season
  21. cap — a lid
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a line
  24. pop — music

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