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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: hand · wind · kid · land · bulb · wave · craft · chair

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. kid — child
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. craft — a skill
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. bulb — for light
  7. bulb — for light
  8. land — to come down
  9. craft — boats
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. chair — a leader
  20. kid — to tease
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. land — a country
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. hand — in cards

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