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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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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: temple · ground · land · stick · bowl · bark · pound · cold

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. ground — crushed
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pound — a weight
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. ground — a position
  11. land — a country
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. land — to come down
  19. ground — the earth
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. land — ground

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