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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: wake · march · bark · stock · kid · game · cell · pound

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. stock — goods
  3. march — the month
  4. cell — in biology
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — to tease
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. game — a match
  9. stock — shares
  10. cell — a phone
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bark — to shout
  13. wake — a trail
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. march — music
  17. kid — child
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. march — the month
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. game — wild animals

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