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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 got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mark — a grade
  5. march — the month
  6. field — a subject
  7. cap — a hat
  8. march — music
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mark — a trace
  11. file — a tool
  12. field — for sport
  13. march — the month
  14. file — a line of people
  15. pass — a permit
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cap — of ice
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. kid — child
  22. field — farmland
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. file — a document

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