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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 · rash · patient · mine · cell · hide · bat · saw

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cell — a phone
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. rash — hasty
  9. bat — the animal
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. kid — to tease
  12. rash — a series
  13. cell — in biology
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. mine — for digging
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. saw — the tool
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. kid — child
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. hide — to keep secret

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