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

Word bank: chest · stand · kid · wind · pound · court

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wind — moving air
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — child
  7. court — for sport
  8. stand — to bear
  9. wind — moving air
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. court — of law
  15. chest — a box
  16. court — of a king
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. pound — a weight

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