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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. scale — size or range
  3. chest — a box
  4. saw — the tool
  5. spring — the season
  6. scale — in music
  7. bound — certain
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bass — the fish
  12. wound — an injury
  13. kid — child
  14. bass — low music
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. wound — an injury
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bound — obliged
  21. chest — of your body
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bound — tied together

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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