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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. bank — for money
  2. kid — child
  3. mine — for digging
  4. spell — letters
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pitch — completely
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — a short time
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bank — for money
  14. chest — a box
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. pit — a hole
  17. pit — in a race
  18. wind — moving air
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. bank — of a river
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — to tease
  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