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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: mine · hand · march · cap · kid · wake

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — for digging
  5. march — the month
  6. march — the month
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cap — of ice
  10. kid — child
  11. hand — help
  12. cap — a hat
  13. wake — a trail
  14. march — music
  15. kid — to tease
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cap — a lid
  18. hand — in cards

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