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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: bowl · land · wind · rash · bound · pound · cell · wound

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. bound — certain
  3. pound — a weight
  4. wind — moving air
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wind — moving air
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. rash — hasty
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cell — in biology
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. rash — a series
  17. bound — tied together
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. land — a country
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. cell — a phone
  24. rash — on the skin

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