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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. ball — a dance
  3. game — wild animals
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kid — child
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. hand — help
  8. craft — a skill
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. clip — for paper
  11. craft — boats
  12. kid — to tease
  13. ball — a great time
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. clip — a video
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — music
  19. game — a match
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. swing — to play on
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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