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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. race — a contest
  6. net — in sport
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. chest — a box
  10. kid — child
  11. chest — of your body
  12. net — after costs
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. saw — the tool
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. race — humankind
  20. saw — the tool
  21. race — the arms race
  22. net — for catching
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. bat — the animal

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