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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. net — for catching
  4. bore — to tire
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bore — to drill
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. spell — letters
  9. net — in sport
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. squash — to crush
  13. chest — of your body
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. net — after costs
  16. degree — from a university
  17. spell — a short time
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. degree — an amount
  20. spell — magic
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. squash — the sport
  24. degree — temperature

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