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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. hand — help
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. deal — to handle
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. fork — in a road
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cold — not warm
  14. hand — in cards
  15. pound — a weight
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. cold — an illness

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