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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wound — an injury
  3. hand — in cards
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. hand — help
  6. bore — to drill
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. ground — a position
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. dip — to sink
  15. bore — to tire
  16. wound — an injury
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. bat — the animal
  20. kid — child
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. ground — the earth
  24. ground — crushed

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