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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. saw — the tool
  4. bass — the fish
  5. race — a contest
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. swing — music
  10. race — the arms race
  11. swing — to play on
  12. race — humankind
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. row — a line
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bass — low music
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. swing — in golf
  20. chest — a box
  21. row — to paddle
  22. chest — of your body
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. chest — of your body

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