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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. net — for catching
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bat — the animal
  7. press — a publisher
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. hand — in cards
  12. face — to confront
  13. net — after costs
  14. hand — help
  15. press — to push
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. net — in sport
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. press — newspapers
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. face — part of the head
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. racket — for tennis

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