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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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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: scale · chest · fan · racket · wind · clip · pit · straw

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. scale — size or range
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. chest — a box
  7. scale — in music
  8. clip — for paper
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. chest — of your body
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. clip — to cut
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. pit — a hole
  18. chest — of your body
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. clip — a video
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. pit — in a race
  24. wind — moving air

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