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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. club — a group
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chest — of your body
  6. club — for golf
  7. clip — for paper
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. face — to confront
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mine — for digging
  15. face — part of the head
  16. bore — to drill
  17. chest — a box
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. clip — to cut
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. club — for dancing
  23. kid — child
  24. clip — a video

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