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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. net — for catching
  4. rush — hurry
  5. craft — a skill
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. kid — child
  8. fall — the season
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. clip — for paper
  11. fall — to drop
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. net — in sport
  17. fall — to drop
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. net — after costs
  22. kick — in football
  23. craft — boats
  24. craft — a handicraft

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