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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: kid · cap · fall · hand · squash · straw · racket · file

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. file — a tool
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. cap — of ice
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cap — a lid
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. fall — to drop
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. kid — child
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. squash — to crush
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. squash — the sport
  16. file — a document
  17. hand — help
  18. kid — to tease
  19. file — a line of people
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. fall — the season
  22. cap — a hat
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. straw — dry grass

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