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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 120 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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. swing — to play on
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mate — a friend
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. chest — a box
  9. mark — a trace
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kid — child
  12. mate — to breed
  13. kid — to tease
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. chest — of your body
  20. mark — a grade
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. swing — music
  23. pound — a weight
  24. swing — in golf

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