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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. wind — moving air
  3. squash — the sport
  4. ground — crushed
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. bore — to drill
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. clip — to cut
  9. kid — to tease
  10. kid — child
  11. clip — a video
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. clip — for paper
  15. stand — to bear
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. ground — a position
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. row — to paddle
  22. wind — moving air
  23. ground — the earth
  24. row — a line

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