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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: rock · wake · snap · bear · file · kid · wound · wind

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rock — a stone
  3. file — a document
  4. rock — music
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wound — an injury
  10. kid — child
  11. file — a tool
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. snap — to click
  19. bear — the animal
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. bear — the animal
  24. file — a line of people

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