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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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. deal — to handle
  3. kid — child
  4. pop — music
  5. shower — rain
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. can — a tin
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. can — to be able to
  10. race — humankind
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. pop — soda
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. race — a contest
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. can — a tin
  18. bat — the animal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. pop — to visit
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. race — the arms race

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