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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: kick · pound · march · row · lean · spring · kid · rush

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. lean — thin
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. spring — a coil
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. march — music
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. spring — of water
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. row — a line
  15. lean — to bend
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. spring — the season
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. march — the month
  20. pound — a weight
  21. march — the month
  22. kick — in football
  23. row — to paddle
  24. rush — to hurry

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