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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 · march · cold · kid · race · bank

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. bank — of a river
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bank — for money
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. race — the arms race
  10. cold — not warm
  11. march — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. march — the month
  14. race — humankind
  15. march — the month
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bank — for money
  18. race — a contest

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