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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. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. pound — a weight
  6. clip — to cut
  7. ground — the earth
  8. rash — hasty
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. ground — crushed
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. stand — to bear
  13. wind — moving air
  14. branch — a division
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. rash — a series
  17. ground — a position
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — for paper
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wind — moving air

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