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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wind — moving air
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. lie — to recline
  9. band — a music group
  10. bat — the animal
  11. march — the month
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. march — music
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. march — the month
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mine — for digging
  18. band — a ring
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. lie — an untruth

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