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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mouse · chair · kid · race · tear · file

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. file — a tool
  5. tear — to rip
  6. file — a line of people
  7. chair — a leader
  8. race — the arms race
  9. tear — from crying
  10. race — humankind
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. file — a document
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. race — a contest
  15. tear — from crying
  16. kid — child
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. kid — to tease

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