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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: kid · tear · date · file · pound · wind · scale · current

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wind — moving air
  4. file — a line of people
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. kid — to tease
  8. current — electric
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wind — moving air
  11. current — of water
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. tear — to rip
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. date — the fruit
  17. pound — a weight
  18. file — a document
  19. scale — in music
  20. kid — child
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. current — happening now
  24. file — a tool

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