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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 120 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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. chair — a leader
  3. squash — the sport
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. kid — child
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. bore — to tire
  10. kid — to tease
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bear — the animal
  14. tube — the underground
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. stem — to come from
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bear — the animal
  21. bore — to drill
  22. tube — a container
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. bear — to put up with

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