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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. kid — to tease
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. pit — a hole
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. board — a committee
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. rash — a series
  10. file — a tool
  11. land — a country
  12. file — a line of people
  13. file — a document
  14. land — ground
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. kid — child
  17. pit — in a race
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. rash — hasty
  20. land — to come down
  21. board — to get on
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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