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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: face · bat · perch · tube · last · kick · kid · straw

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. kid — child
  3. kid — to tease
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bat — the animal
  8. last — final
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. kick — in football
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. face — part of the head
  14. last — to go on
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — the underground
  17. face — to confront
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. face — to point toward
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. perch — the fish

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