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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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. spring — the season
  4. spring — of water
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. swing — music
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. kid — to tease
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. spring — a coil
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. pitch — completely
  17. clip — for paper
  18. swing — to play on
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. kid — child
  22. bat — the animal
  23. swing — in golf
  24. calf — a young animal

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