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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — final
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cap — of ice
  8. kid — to tease
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. game — a match
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bound — tied together
  13. wound — an injury
  14. hand — help
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bound — certain
  17. cap — a hat
  18. shower — to wash
  19. hand — in cards
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — child
  22. last — finally
  23. shower — rain
  24. cap — a lid

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