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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: craft · hand · bound · ground · chest · tube · wind · kid

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. ground — crushed
  5. kid — child
  6. chest — of your body
  7. hand — help
  8. bound — certain
  9. chest — a box
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — to tease
  14. tube — the underground
  15. craft — a skill
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. ground — the earth
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bound — obliged
  21. bound — tied together
  22. craft — boats
  23. tube — a container
  24. chest — of your body

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