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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: game · club · kid · pound · wind · mine · lie · hand

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. pound — a weight
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. hand — help
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. mine — for digging
  7. game — a match
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. club — for dancing
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. club — for golf
  14. hand — in cards
  15. kid — child
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. kid — to tease
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. club — a group
  20. wind — moving air
  21. game — wild animals
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. lie — to recline
  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