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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: pound · band · clip · bat · ground · fork · stand · sharp

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — the earth
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. sharp — clever
  5. band — a music group
  6. clip — a video
  7. stand — to bear
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. pound — a weight
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. band — a ring
  19. fork — in a road
  20. clip — for paper
  21. ground — a position
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. sharp — with an edge

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