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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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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: march · bark · hand · bound · field · pound · pit · land

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pound — a weight
  3. hand — help
  4. land — to come down
  5. bound — tied together
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. field — for sport
  9. pit — a hole
  10. bound — certain
  11. field — farmland
  12. pit — in a race
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. land — a country
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bark — to shout
  18. march — the month
  19. land — ground
  20. field — a subject
  21. march — the month
  22. bound — obliged
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bark — of a tree

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