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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. mug — a face
  3. mug — a cup
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. mug — to rob
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. swing — to play on
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cell — a phone
  12. file — a line of people
  13. hand — help
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. wound — an injury
  18. file — a tool
  19. swing — music
  20. wound — an injury
  21. file — a document
  22. rush — hurry
  23. swing — in golf
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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