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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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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 · rock · hide · mug · clip · club · chest · bat

  1. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. clip — for paper
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chest — a box
  8. rock — music
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. rock — a stone
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. club — for dancing
  13. mug — a cup
  14. chest — of your body
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. bat — the animal
  17. clip — to cut
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. mug — a face
  20. club — a group
  21. clip — a video
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — to tease
  24. club — for golf

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