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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: band · kid · trunk · mine · snap · firm · perch · tear

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. snap — to click
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. firm — decided
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. kid — to tease
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. firm — steady
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. tear — from crying
  16. band — a ring
  17. band — a music group
  18. tear — to rip
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. tear — from crying
  21. perch — the fish
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. firm — a company

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