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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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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 · fork · wound · cold · bear · bulb · band · date

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a music group
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. bulb — for light
  8. cold — an illness
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. pound — a weight
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. wound — an injury
  15. fork — in a road
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bear — the animal
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. date — the fruit
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bulb — for light

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