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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: hand · bore · pound · file · perch · chest · kid · stand

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. stand — to bear
  3. bore — to drill
  4. file — a tool
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. perch — the fish
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. file — a document
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. chest — of your body
  16. file — a line of people
  17. hand — help
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. pound — a weight
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. kid — child
  24. perch — for a bird

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