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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. spell — magic
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. squash — to crush
  6. club — for golf
  7. spell — letters
  8. chest — of your body
  9. season — of the year
  10. bound — tied together
  11. chest — a box
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. club — for dancing
  14. club — a group
  15. bound — certain
  16. chest — of your body
  17. kid — child
  18. spell — a short time
  19. squash — the sport
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. bound — obliged
  22. season — in sport
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. squash — the vegetable

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