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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: kid · chest · root · file · straw · wave · cap · pop

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. cap — a hat
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. root — of a word
  5. file — a document
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. file — a tool
  8. kid — child
  9. pop — soda
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. chest — of your body
  13. file — a line of people
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cap — of ice
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. root — of a plant
  18. cap — a lid
  19. root — the cause
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. chest — a box
  22. pop — music
  23. kid — to tease
  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