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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 120 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 · mark · kid · content · current · bat · mine · club

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. kid — child
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. wind — moving air
  6. current — happening now
  7. content — happy
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. current — electric
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. club — for dancing
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mark — a trace
  16. current — of water
  17. mark — a grade
  18. club — for golf
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. club — a group
  24. content — the amount

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