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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: pound · cue · race · cold · fan · wake · bound · scale

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cue — a signal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bound — tied together
  6. bound — obliged
  7. cue — a hint
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. bound — certain
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. race — humankind
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. wake — a trail
  15. scale — size or range
  16. cold — an illness
  17. scale — in music
  18. race — a contest
  19. cue — for pool
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. race — the arms race
  24. scale — for weighing

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