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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: march · bank · track · kid · stick · wound · hand · chest

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  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. track — to keep track
  2. march — the month
  3. wound — an injury
  4. march — music
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. hand — help
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wound — an injury
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bank — for money
  12. bank — of a river
  13. bank — for money
  14. kid — child
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. march — the month
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. track — a song
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. track — a path
  23. hand — in cards
  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