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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. ball — a great time
  4. squash — the sport
  5. fall — to drop
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. squash — to crush
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. clip — for paper
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. fall — to drop
  15. clip — to cut
  16. present — a gift
  17. present — the time now
  18. clip — a video
  19. ball — a dance
  20. kid — to tease
  21. snap — to click
  22. pitch — completely
  23. fall — the season
  24. present — there

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