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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — child
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. clip — for paper
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. rock — music
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rash — a series
  14. clip — to cut
  15. rash — hasty
  16. kick — in football
  17. rock — a stone
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. fall — the season
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. clip — a video
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fall — to drop
  24. tear — from crying

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