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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: kid · scale · fall · band · hand · mine · bank · file

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. band — a ring
  3. fall — to drop
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. file — a document
  6. fall — to drop
  7. scale — in music
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a tool
  12. kid — child
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bank — for money
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. hand — help
  17. kid — to tease
  18. mine — for digging
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bank — for money
  21. band — a music group
  22. bank — of a river
  23. scale — size or range
  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