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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: pound · foot · wound · lie · cold · land · march · hand

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. hand — help
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. land — to come down
  5. hand — in cards
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. land — ground
  8. march — the month
  9. lie — to recline
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. march — the month
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pound — a weight
  16. march — music
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — an illness
  22. land — a country
  23. foot — a measure
  24. foot — part of the body

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