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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. chest — of your body
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — of law
  5. spring — the season
  6. kid — child
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — a coil
  12. board — to get on
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bore — to drill
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. kid — to tease
  19. spring — of water
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. court — for sport
  22. board — a committee
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. chest — a box

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