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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. rash — hasty
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. rash — a series
  5. clip — a video
  6. file — a document
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. chair — a leader
  9. hand — help
  10. kick — in football
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. tear — from crying
  13. kid — to tease
  14. clip — for paper
  15. tear — from crying
  16. kid — child
  17. tear — to rip
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. clip — to cut
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. hand — in cards
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a tool
  24. rash — on the skin

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