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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 120 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: kid · chest · can · sharp · ground · band · branch · row

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. branch — a division
  4. can — a tin
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — child
  7. band — a ring
  8. chest — of your body
  9. can — a tin
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. can — to be able to
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. chest — a box
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. kid — to tease
  16. row — to paddle
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. band — a music group
  19. ground — the earth
  20. sharp — clever
  21. ground — crushed
  22. row — a line
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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