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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: kick · march · hand · tube · branch · wind · kid · pitch

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. hand — help
  5. wind — moving air
  6. kid — child
  7. march — music
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. kid — to tease
  10. tube — a container
  11. hand — in cards
  12. pitch — completely
  13. tube — the underground
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. kick — in football
  17. branch — a division
  18. march — the month
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. march — the month

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