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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. present — the time now
  3. bear — the animal
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. bear — the animal
  6. cue — a hint
  7. fall — to drop
  8. present — there
  9. kid — child
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cue — for pool
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. clip — for paper
  15. present — a gift
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. fall — to drop
  18. clip — to cut
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. cue — a signal
  21. fall — the season
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. clip — a video
  24. fan — to cool the air

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