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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. race — humankind
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. wind — moving air
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. kid — to tease
  8. clip — a video
  9. race — the arms race
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. kid — child
  12. race — a contest
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bore — to drill
  15. wind — moving air
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. pitch — completely

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