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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rock — music
  6. march — music
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bat — the animal
  12. net — after costs
  13. ball — a great time
  14. rock — a stone
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — in sport
  18. chip — to eat
  19. kid — to tease
  20. march — the month
  21. chip — for betting
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. ball — a dance

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