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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. hand — help
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. bound — obliged
  7. kid — to tease
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. fine — high quality
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bound — tied together
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. cold — an illness
  17. clip — a video
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. hand — in cards
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bound — certain
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. kid — child

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