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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pop — to visit
  4. cold — an illness
  5. kid — to tease
  6. chair — a leader
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. kid — child
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. scale — size or range
  11. bear — the animal
  12. pop — soda
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. scale — in music
  16. squash — to crush
  17. pop — music
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. stem — to come from
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. bear — the animal
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. scale — for weighing

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