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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. hand — in cards
  4. cap — of ice
  5. kid — child
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. hand — help
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. rash — a series
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cap — a hat
  17. cap — a lid
  18. kid — to tease
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. clip — a video
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. hand — part of the body

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