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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. charge — electricity
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. prune — to trim
  7. clip — to cut
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. kid — to tease
  11. mine — for digging
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. band — a ring
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. prune — to trim
  22. charge — a price
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. charge — in control

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