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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · wound · plane · chip · squash · mouse · cold · bound

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — the sport
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bound — obliged
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. plane — a tool
  13. chip — for betting
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. land — a country
  16. bound — tied together
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. chip — to eat
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. land — to come down
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. bound — certain
  24. squash — to crush

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