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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 124 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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. object — to protest
  3. tear — from crying
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. file — a line of people
  9. chest — a box
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. bass — the fish
  12. object — a thing
  13. ball — a dance
  14. file — a document
  15. kid — child
  16. chest — of your body
  17. file — a tool
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. tear — from crying
  20. chest — of your body
  21. tear — to rip
  22. ball — a great time
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. object — an aim

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