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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. hand — help
  3. band — a ring
  4. rush — hurry
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. bound — tied together
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — a line
  14. row — to paddle
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bound — obliged
  17. wind — moving air
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. hand — in cards
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. kid — child
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. bound — certain

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