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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: board · wound · pound · stick · tear · spring · cold · content

  1. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. tear — from crying
  3. content — happy
  4. spring — the season
  5. board — to get on
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. spring — a coil
  8. tear — to rip
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. board — a committee
  11. content — the amount
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. pound — a weight
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — of water
  19. tear — from crying
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — an injury

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