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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. lean — to bend
  4. mate — a partner
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — a practice
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. kid — to tease
  10. lean — thin
  11. court — for sport
  12. craft — boats
  13. mate — a friend
  14. court — of law
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. craft — a skill
  17. drill — army training
  18. bat — the animal
  19. clip — to cut
  20. court — of a king
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. mate — to breed

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