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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. suit — to fit
  3. stand — to bear
  4. row — a line
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. band — a ring
  8. bat — the animal
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. suit — in cards
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. suit — clothes
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. kid — child
  17. wound — an injury
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. wound — an injury
  20. row — to paddle
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. row — a quarrel

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