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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 116 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: land · stock · row · content · wound · pound · band · file

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. land — ground
  3. wound — an injury
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. file — a document
  9. stock — shares
  10. pound — a weight
  11. land — a country
  12. content — the amount
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. land — to come down
  16. row — to paddle
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. stock — goods
  20. row — a line
  21. band — a ring
  22. content — happy
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. band — a music group

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