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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. kid — to tease
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spring — a coil
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wound — an injury
  10. game — a match
  11. prune — to trim
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. spring — of water
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. spring — the season
  17. prune — to trim
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. chair — a leader
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. kid — child
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. game — a kind of play

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