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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · roll · straw · arm · cabinet · kid · game · fine

  1. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. kid — child
  4. roll — a list
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. game — a match
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. bat — the animal
  11. roll — a cake
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. game — wild animals
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. fine — high quality

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