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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: tear · scale · toast · wound · rock · track · chest · kid

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. track — to keep track
  3. wound — an injury
  4. tear — from crying
  5. track — a path
  6. chest — a box
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. kid — to tease
  9. chest — of your body
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. kid — child
  12. toast — bread
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. rock — music
  15. track — a song
  16. tear — to rip
  17. rock — a stone
  18. wound — an injury
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. chest — of your body
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — in music

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