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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. swing — to play on
  3. roll — a list
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. swing — music
  6. chair — a leader
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. roll — a cake
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. swing — in golf
  11. shower — to wash
  12. hand — help
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. hand — in cards
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. shower — rain
  18. hand — part of the 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