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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. can — a tin
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. kid — to tease
  5. hand — help
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. clip — to cut
  11. cue — for pool
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. can — a tin
  15. kid — child
  16. cue — a hint
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. clip — a video
  19. cue — a signal
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. chair — a leader
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. hand — in cards

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