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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: hand · capital · kick · wind · chest · bass · tube · drill

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. bass — low music
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bass — the fish
  7. kick — in football
  8. chest — a box
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. hand — help
  11. drill — the tool
  12. capital — a city
  13. chest — of your body
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. wind — moving air
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. tube — a container
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. tube — the underground
  20. drill — a practice
  21. capital — money
  22. drill — army training
  23. tube — in a tire
  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