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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. mate — to breed
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. mate — a friend
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — wild animals
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. mine — for digging
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. kid — to tease
  15. hand — help
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. chip — to eat
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. kid — child
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. mate — a partner
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. chip — for betting

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