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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 120 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: wind · chest · ground · land · craft · pound

  1. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  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. craft — a skill
  2. land — to come down
  3. ground — crushed
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. land — a country
  7. ground — the earth
  8. wind — moving air
  9. land — ground
  10. craft — boats
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. chest — a box
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. ground — a position
  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