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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. staff — a stick
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. band — a music group
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. band — a ring
  7. kid — child
  8. cold — an illness
  9. staff — employees
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. shower — rain
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. shower — to wash
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. staff — employees
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. temple — a place of worship

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