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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: straw · plane · lie · wind · kid · bank · chest · last

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. lie — to recline
  3. last — final
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bank — for money
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. chest — a box
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bank — of a river
  12. chest — of your body
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. last — to go on
  15. kid — child
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. last — finally
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. plane — a tool
  21. chest — of your body
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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