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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 · clip · game · bat · fork · wake · net · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. kid — child
  3. game — a match
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bat — the animal
  6. net — in sport
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. net — for catching
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — a video
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. net — after costs
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. game — wild animals
  19. fork — in a road
  20. clip — to cut
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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