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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: wound · face · nail · track · pound · cell · date · bowl

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. face — to confront
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. face — to point toward
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. date — the fruit
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. cell — a phone
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. track — a song
  17. track — to keep track
  18. face — part of the head
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. pound — a weight
  22. wound — an injury
  23. track — a path
  24. wound — an injury

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