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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: march · tube · ground · pound · bound · press · chest · pitcher

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. bound — certain
  3. march — the month
  4. ground — a position
  5. pound — a weight
  6. ground — the earth
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. press — to push
  9. march — music
  10. bound — obliged
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. tube — the underground
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. press — newspapers
  16. march — the month
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bound — tied together
  20. press — a publisher
  21. tube — a container
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. chest — a box
  24. pound — to hit hard

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