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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: nail · chest · hand · straw · band · kid · race · file

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. file — a line of people
  3. hand — help
  4. race — humankind
  5. hand — in cards
  6. band — a music group
  7. band — a ring
  8. file — a tool
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. chest — of your body
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. kid — child
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. race — the arms race
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. race — a contest
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. chest — of your body
  19. kid — to tease
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chest — a box
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. file — a document
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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