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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mate — a partner
  3. bat — the animal
  4. file — a tool
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bore — to tire
  11. lie — to recline
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bore — to drill
  14. mate — to breed
  15. file — a document
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. prune — to trim
  18. squash — the sport
  19. kid — child
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. mate — a friend
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bore — gave birth

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