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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: bound · pop · land · wake · clip · rest · cold · net

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. cold — not warm
  3. net — after costs
  4. land — a country
  5. pop — soda
  6. land — to come down
  7. rest — a break
  8. net — for catching
  9. rest — what's left
  10. land — ground
  11. pop — music
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. bound — obliged
  16. clip — a video
  17. pop — to visit
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wake — a trail
  22. rest — what's left
  23. net — in sport
  24. bound — tied together

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