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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 haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. hand — help
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. kid — child
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. row — a line
  8. bound — certain
  9. row — to paddle
  10. bound — obliged
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. shower — rain
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bound — tied together
  17. kid — to tease
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cell — a phone
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. racket — a loud noise

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