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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: hide · wind · chest · file · kid · cell · shower · tube

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  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. kid — to tease
  2. tube — the underground
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cell — in biology
  6. tube — a container
  7. file — a document
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. shower — rain
  10. wind — moving air
  11. file — a tool
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. kid — child
  14. file — a line of people
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cell — a phone
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — to wash
  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