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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spring — the season
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. hand — help
  8. bass — low music
  9. wind — moving air
  10. field — a subject
  11. bass — the fish
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — child
  14. spring — a coil
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. snap — to click
  19. field — farmland
  20. spring — of water
  21. hand — in cards
  22. kid — to tease
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. field — for sport

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