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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. kid — child
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. ground — crushed
  7. staff — employees
  8. tube — the underground
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. hand — help
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. ground — a position
  14. hand — in cards
  15. tube — a container
  16. kid — to tease
  17. ground — the earth
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. staff — a stick
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. staff — employees
  24. coach — a trainer

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