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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. stem — to come from
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. hand — in cards
  7. bound — obliged
  8. bound — tied together
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bound — certain
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. kid — child
  18. cabinet — a cupboard

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