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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. tear — to rip
  4. fall — the season
  5. row — to paddle
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bore — to tire
  9. tear — from crying
  10. row — a line
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cell — in biology
  16. snap — to click
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. kid — to tease
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cell — a phone
  24. fall — to drop

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