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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: shower · ground · capital · wound · squash · pound · board · land

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. board — to get on
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. shower — rain
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. capital — a city
  8. ground — crushed
  9. capital — money
  10. ground — a position
  11. land — a country
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. squash — to crush
  17. squash — the sport
  18. pound — a weight
  19. board — a committee
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. ground — the earth
  22. land — to come down
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. land — ground

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