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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 116 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. degree — from a university
  3. track — a song
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. track — a path
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. spring — the season
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. bat — the animal
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. degree — temperature
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. spring — of water
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. spring — a coil
  21. degree — an amount
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. kid — to tease
  24. track — to keep track

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