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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 120 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. kid — child
  3. wind — moving air
  4. track — a path
  5. bass — low music
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bass — the fish
  9. track — to keep track
  10. ground — crushed
  11. hand — help
  12. ground — a position
  13. track — a song
  14. wind — moving air
  15. hand — in cards
  16. present — a gift
  17. present — the time now
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. ground — the earth
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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