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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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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: kid · hand · wind · current · craft · net · band · row

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. kid — to tease
  3. net — for catching
  4. wind — moving air
  5. band — a music group
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. row — a line
  10. hand — help
  11. current — happening now
  12. current — electric
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. craft — a skill
  18. band — a ring
  19. net — in sport
  20. hand — in cards
  21. net — after costs
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. current — of water
  24. kid — child

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