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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. snap — to click
  3. chest — of your body
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. pop — to visit
  6. chest — a box
  7. pop — soda
  8. kid — to tease
  9. net — in sport
  10. chest — of your body
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. game — a match
  14. tube — a container
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. tube — the underground
  17. mate — a partner
  18. mate — to breed
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. game — wild animals
  21. mate — a friend
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — after costs
  24. pop — music

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