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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: pound · wound · coach · fine · rest · date · content · cell

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. date — the fruit
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. fine — all right
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. rest — what's left
  9. content — the amount
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. rest — what's left
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. fine — high quality
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. pound — a weight
  20. content — happy
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. date — on the calendar

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