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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. can — to be able to
  3. kid — child
  4. can — a tin
  5. game — a match
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. kid — to tease
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. game — wild animals
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. roll — a list
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. row — to paddle
  22. row — a line
  23. roll — a cake
  24. can — a tin

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