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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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Word bank
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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: bat · race · kid · game · track · net

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. race — the arms race
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. track — a song
  8. kid — child
  9. bat — the animal
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. race — humankind
  13. track — a path
  14. race — a contest
  15. track — to keep track
  16. game — wild animals
  17. game — a match
  18. net — after costs

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