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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. file — a line of people
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. file — a tool
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. spell — magic
  8. clip — a video
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. spell — a short time
  11. kid — child
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bat — the animal
  15. clip — for paper
  16. game — wild animals
  17. clip — to cut
  18. game — a match
  19. file — a document
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. spell — letters
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. ruler — for measuring

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