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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. pitch — completely
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chip — to eat
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mine — for digging
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. bat — the animal
  24. chip — for betting

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