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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: ruler · cold · plane · court · tear · season · ground · pound

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. cold — an illness
  3. ground — crushed
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. cold — not warm
  9. court — of a king
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. tear — from crying
  12. season — of the year
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. plane — a tool
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. tear — from crying
  17. pound — a weight
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. tear — to rip
  20. season — in sport
  21. ground — the earth
  22. court — for sport
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. court — of law

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