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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chest — a box
  3. file — a line of people
  4. chest — of your body
  5. drill — army training
  6. tube — the underground
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. last — to go on
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. drill — a practice
  14. bound — obliged
  15. last — finally
  16. bound — certain
  17. hand — help
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. last — final
  20. drill — the tool
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bound — tied together
  24. tube — a container

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