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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spring · wind · chest · kid · stand · pitcher · can · fan

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. kid — child
  3. wind — moving air
  4. can — a tin
  5. chest — a box
  6. kid — to tease
  7. spring — a coil
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. spring — the season
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. can — to be able to
  17. stand — to bear
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. can — a tin
  20. wind — moving air
  21. spring — of water
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. chest — of your body

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