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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — to tease
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. rock — music
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. rock — a stone
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. clip — for paper
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. race — the arms race
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. race — a contest
  17. race — humankind
  18. chest — of your body
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. band — a ring
  21. clip — to cut
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. clip — a video
  24. band — a music group

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