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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. pop — music
  6. kid — child
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. stand — to bear
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. scale — in music
  11. march — the month
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bat — the animal
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pop — to visit
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. pop — soda
  22. march — the month
  23. march — music
  24. stand — on your feet

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