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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 116 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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chair — a leader
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. race — the arms race
  8. bat — the animal
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. kid — child
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. race — a contest
  13. squash — the sport
  14. race — humankind
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. squash — to crush
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. prune — to trim
  24. lash — to lash out

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