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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: chest · mark · tube · wind · pound · roll · mine · clip

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mine — for digging
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. pound — a weight
  5. roll — a cake
  6. roll — a list
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mark — a grade
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. mark — a trace
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wind — moving air
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. clip — to cut
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — a container
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. clip — a video
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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