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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. game — a match
  3. cold — an illness
  4. scale — size or range
  5. scale — in music
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — magic
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. game — wild animals
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — child

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