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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. kid — child
  2. rock — a stone
  3. net — for catching
  4. bound — tied together
  5. bound — certain
  6. cap — a hat
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. net — after costs
  9. cap — a lid
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — a practice
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. file — a document
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cap — of ice
  17. rock — music
  18. file — a tool
  19. drill — the tool
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bound — obliged
  22. net — in sport
  23. wind — moving air
  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