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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. band — a ring
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. roll — a cake
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. field — farmland
  13. ball — a great time
  14. chip — to eat
  15. chip — for betting
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. ball — a dance
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. kid — child
  23. band — a music group
  24. roll — a list

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