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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. cap — of ice
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. craft — boats
  6. bat — the animal
  7. craft — a skill
  8. kid — child
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. season — of the year
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. race — a contest
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cap — a lid
  18. race — humankind
  19. season — in sport
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. bore — to tire
  22. bore — to drill
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cap — a hat

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