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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: shower · mine · kid · bore · swing · hide · face · field

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. shower — to wash
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bore — to tire
  8. shower — rain
  9. face — to point toward
  10. kid — child
  11. field — a subject
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. mine — for digging
  14. swing — music
  15. face — part of the head
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. field — for sport
  18. kid — to tease
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. bore — to drill
  22. swing — in golf
  23. face — to confront
  24. field — farmland

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