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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: bank · tear · kid · squash · content · mine · hand · cell

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. hand — help
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cell — in biology
  6. mine — for digging
  7. tear — from crying
  8. bank — for money
  9. squash — the sport
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bank — of a river
  15. cell — a phone
  16. content — happy
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. hand — in cards
  21. content — the amount
  22. squash — to crush
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bank — for money

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