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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: bound · spring · kid · wound · ground · club · rule · pit

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. club — a group
  3. rule — government
  4. bound — tied together
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pit — a hole
  7. club — for golf
  8. ground — a position
  9. kid — to tease
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bound — certain
  12. spring — a coil
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. bound — obliged
  15. pit — in a race
  16. kid — child
  17. rule — a law
  18. ground — the earth
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. club — for dancing
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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