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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. file — a document
  3. file — a line of people
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. file — a tool
  9. mine — for digging
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. shower — rain
  12. kid — child
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. bass — the fish
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. shower — to wash
  17. kid — to tease
  18. branch — a division
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. chest — a box
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. chest — of your body
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. chest — of your body

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