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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: cold · ground · pitcher · land · wound · cell · bay · bore

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. land — a country
  5. ground — a position
  6. land — to come down
  7. wound — an injury
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bore — to tire
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bore — to drill
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. ground — the earth
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. land — ground

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