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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. capital — a city
  9. mark — a grade
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. game — wild animals
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. rock — music
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. capital — money
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. kid — child
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. rock — a stone
  21. band — a ring
  22. mark — a trace
  23. bat — the animal
  24. band — a music group

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