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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: game · mark · rule · pound · march · cold · fork · pop

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. pound — a weight
  3. mark — a grade
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fork — in a road
  7. pop — music
  8. mark — a trace
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rule — government
  11. pop — to visit
  12. pop — soda
  13. march — the month
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. march — music
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — a match
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. rule — a law
  23. game — wild animals
  24. pound — for dogs

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