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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. squash — the sport
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bat — the animal
  14. lie — to recline
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. squash — to crush
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. kid — child

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