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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: file · pitch · hide · capital · chest · wind · kid · game

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. file — a tool
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. kid — to tease
  7. chest — of your body
  8. file — a line of people
  9. game — wild animals
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. game — a match
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. kid — child
  15. pitch — completely
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. file — a document
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. capital — money
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — moving air
  23. capital — a city
  24. hide — animal skin

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