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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mate — a partner
  3. suit — in cards
  4. fall — to drop
  5. suit — to fit
  6. field — farmland
  7. cold — an illness
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mate — a friend
  11. field — for sport
  12. fall — the season
  13. mate — to breed
  14. field — a subject
  15. fall — to drop
  16. kid — to tease
  17. suit — clothes
  18. cold — the Cold War

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