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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 · field · fork · mine · kid · bank

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. bank — for money
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mine — for digging
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bank — of a river
  17. fork — in a road
  18. mine — an explosive

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