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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 120 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. kid — child
  10. squash — the sport
  11. court — of a king
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. last — to go on
  14. squash — to crush
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — the animal
  18. court — of law
  19. last — finally
  20. court — for sport
  21. hand — help
  22. last — final
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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