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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: bear · pound · lie · cold · snap · mark · last · mine

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. snap — to click
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. lie — to recline
  6. mark — a trace
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mark — a grade
  11. last — final
  12. last — to go on
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. last — finally
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. pound — a weight
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bear — the animal
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. bear — the animal

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