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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. tear — to rip
  3. content — happy
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. craft — boats
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — in sport
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. tear — from crying
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. content — the amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bat — the animal
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. craft — a skill
  21. tear — from crying
  22. net — for catching
  23. wind — moving air
  24. craft — a handicraft

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