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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: mine · ground · wind · net · spell · pop · bound · plane

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. spell — letters
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pop — to visit
  5. pop — soda
  6. spell — a short time
  7. spell — magic
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bound — tied together
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. plane — a tool
  13. mine — for digging
  14. ground — crushed
  15. net — after costs
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pop — music
  18. net — for catching
  19. ground — the earth
  20. net — in sport
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. bound — obliged
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. bound — certain

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