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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. kid — to tease
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. swing — in golf
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — to grow
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. prune — to trim
  17. kid — child
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. swing — to play on
  22. swing — music
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. chair — a leader

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