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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 120 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 · can · cold · straw · mug · pound · rash · spring

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — a coil
  3. land — ground
  4. mug — a face
  5. rash — hasty
  6. can — a tin
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. rash — a series
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. mug — to rob
  14. cold — not warm
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. mug — a cup
  17. spring — of water
  18. can — to be able to
  19. land — a country
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. pound — a weight
  23. land — to come down
  24. can — a tin

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