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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: bear · kid · content · file · spring · ground · wind · racket

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. ground — the earth
  3. bear — the animal
  4. ground — a position
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. ground — crushed
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. file — a document
  9. spring — the season
  10. kid — child
  11. content — happy
  12. spring — a coil
  13. file — a line of people
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wind — moving air
  16. spring — of water
  17. bear — the animal
  18. content — the amount
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. file — a tool
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. wind — moving air
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. kid — to tease

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