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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: bark · ball · kid · land · cell · roll · mine · pound

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. mine — for digging
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. pound — a weight
  6. cell — in biology
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. roll — a list
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bark — to shout
  12. land — a country
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — ground
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. land — to come down
  18. ball — a great time
  19. ball — a dance
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. roll — a cake
  24. kid — child

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