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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: land · bear · pound · hand · squash · cold · kid · rash

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. cold — an illness
  3. land — ground
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — child
  6. bear — the animal
  7. land — to come down
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bear — the animal
  11. squash — to crush
  12. cold — not warm
  13. hand — in cards
  14. rash — a series
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — help
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pound — a weight
  22. squash — the sport
  23. land — a country
  24. squash — the vegetable

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