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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 116 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: cold · wound · staff · pop · perch · march · bound · spring

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pop — music
  3. staff — employees
  4. pop — to visit
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. march — the month
  7. pop — soda
  8. staff — employees
  9. spring — the season
  10. bound — tied together
  11. bound — certain
  12. bound — obliged
  13. cold — an illness
  14. march — music
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. spring — a coil
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. march — the month
  21. perch — the fish
  22. staff — a stick
  23. spring — of water
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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