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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: march · scale · craft · jam · kid · land · bound · hand

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. bound — obliged
  4. craft — a skill
  5. march — the month
  6. march — the month
  7. bound — tied together
  8. scale — size or range
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. craft — boats
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. scale — in music
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. march — music
  17. land — a country
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bound — certain
  21. kid — child
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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