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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. track — a song
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. snap — to click
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. kid — child
  9. bat — the animal
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pound — a weight
  12. track — a path
  13. track — to keep track
  14. branch — a division
  15. content — happy
  16. content — the amount
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. kid — to tease

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