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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — child
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. ground — a position
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. ground — the earth
  7. deal — to handle
  8. file — a line of people
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. file — a document
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. hand — in cards
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. hand — help
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — for catching
  19. net — after costs
  20. file — a tool
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. ground — crushed

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