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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. game — a match
  3. date — the fruit
  4. bat — the animal
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. game — wild animals
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. kid — to tease
  10. field — farmland
  11. scale — in music
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. squash — the sport
  15. row — to paddle
  16. field — a subject
  17. kid — child
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — size or range
  20. squash — to crush
  21. field — for sport
  22. row — a line
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. date — on the calendar

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