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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. band — a music group
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — to tease
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. mine — for digging
  10. hand — help
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. field — farmland
  14. land — a country
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. land — ground
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — for sport
  20. hand — in cards
  21. band — a ring
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. land — to come down
  24. calf — a young animal

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