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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. chest — a box
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. scale — in music
  9. kid — to tease
  10. scale — size or range
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. chest — of your body
  15. clip — for paper
  16. kid — child
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. clip — a video
  20. pound — a weight
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. chest — of your body
  24. clip — to cut

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