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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 120 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. kid — child
  3. race — a contest
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. net — after costs
  6. net — in sport
  7. spell — magic
  8. race — the arms race
  9. net — for catching
  10. bound — certain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spell — a short time
  14. kid — to tease
  15. bound — tied together
  16. rash — a series
  17. scale — in music
  18. rash — hasty
  19. race — humankind
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bound — obliged
  22. spell — letters
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. cold — not warm

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