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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: foot · bowl · pound · cold · mine · pop · hand · nail

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. foot — a measure
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. pop — soda
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — help
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. pop — music
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. cold — not warm
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. mine — for digging
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. pound — a weight
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. pop — to visit
  24. bowl — a dish

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