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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. land — ground
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. key — in music
  8. key — the most important part
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. land — to come down
  13. wind — moving air
  14. kid — child
  15. land — a country
  16. kid — to tease
  17. key — for a lock
  18. arm — a part of something

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