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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: kid · hide · spring · bat · present · object · fall · row

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. object — to protest
  3. object — a thing
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. kid — to tease
  6. spring — of water
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a line
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. present — a gift
  11. present — the time now
  12. object — an aim
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. present — there
  15. kid — child
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. spring — a coil
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bat — the animal
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. fall — the season
  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