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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: wind · kick · net · kid · chest · scale · bear · sharp

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. net — in sport
  3. bear — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kid — child
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. net — after costs
  9. kick — in football
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. wind — moving air
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. net — for catching
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. scale — in music
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chest — of your body
  20. sharp — clever
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bear — the animal
  23. scale — size or range
  24. chest — a box

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