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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 116 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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. pound — a weight
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — not warm
  5. face — to point toward
  6. lean — thin
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. bat — the animal
  10. ball — a great time
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. lean — to bend
  13. kid — to tease
  14. ball — a dance
  15. kid — child
  16. face — part of the head
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cold — an illness
  24. face — to confront

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