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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: kid · hide · game · pitcher · row · wax · track · bat

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wax — to grow
  5. kid — child
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. track — a song
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. track — a path
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. game — a match
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. track — to keep track
  22. row — a line
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — wild animals

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