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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: kid · bulb · shower · cabinet · chest · ground · mine · stock

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. mine — for digging
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. ground — a position
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. bulb — for light
  8. chest — a box
  9. bulb — for light
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. kid — child
  15. ground — crushed
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. shower — rain
  18. stock — goods
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. kid — to tease
  21. stock — shares
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. mine — an explosive

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