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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · kid · shower · pound · mine · plane

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. pound — a weight
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. march — the month
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. plane — a tool
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — rain

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