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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: pop · kid · spring · mine · drill · file · plane · scale

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. pop — soda
  4. file — a line of people
  5. pop — to visit
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. scale — size or range
  9. drill — a practice
  10. mine — for digging
  11. kid — child
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. pop — music
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. drill — army training
  18. plane — a tool
  19. kid — to tease
  20. scale — in music
  21. file — a document
  22. drill — the tool
  23. file — a tool
  24. spring — the season

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