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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. hand — in cards
  3. suit — clothes
  4. clip — for paper
  5. suit — to fit
  6. roll — a cake
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. capital — money
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — to tease
  12. capital — a city
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. suit — in cards
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. roll — a list
  22. clip — a video
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. mouse — the animal

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