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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. present — there
  4. kid — child
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mine — for digging
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kid — to tease
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. present — the time now
  15. present — a gift
  16. clip — to cut
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — for paper
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — clever
  24. coach — a trainer

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