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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. squash — the sport
  3. cap — of ice
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cap — a hat
  8. tear — from crying
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cap — a lid
  13. rush — hurry
  14. tear — from crying
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a match
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. tear — to rip
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. kid — child
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. squash — to crush

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