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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: ground · arm · lie · sharp · kid · wind · land · rock

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. rock — music
  3. kid — to tease
  4. sharp — clever
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. kid — child
  7. ground — crushed
  8. land — to come down
  9. lie — to recline
  10. wind — moving air
  11. land — ground
  12. land — a country
  13. wind — moving air
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. ground — the earth
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. rock — a stone
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. ground — a position
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. wind — to turn a key

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