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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. bass — low music
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. kid — child
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. branch — a division
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. spring — a coil
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. court — of a king
  13. chest — of your body
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. spring — of water
  16. court — of law
  17. tube — a container
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. tube — the underground
  20. kid — to tease
  21. court — for sport
  22. chest — a box
  23. bass — the fish
  24. spring — the season

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