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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. root — of a word
  4. bore — to drill
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. hand — in cards
  10. rock — music
  11. clip — a video
  12. root — the cause
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. rock — a stone
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitch — completely
  18. hand — help
  19. root — of a plant
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. bore — to tire

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