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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: dip · chest · tube · march · wound · pound · mug · cold

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. tube — a container
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pound — a weight
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. chest — a box
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — an illness
  13. chest — of your body
  14. tube — the underground
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. mug — a face
  20. mug — a cup
  21. dip — to sink
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. march — the month
  24. mug — to rob

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