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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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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: cue · bat · hand · kick · rush · perch · kid · snap

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — child
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cue — for pool
  5. hand — in cards
  6. snap — to click
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cue — a hint
  10. cue — a signal
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. rush — hurry
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. kick — in football
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. hand — help
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. bat — the animal
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. perch — the fish
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. bat — in an idiom

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