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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. kid — to tease
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. kid — child
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. march — music
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. present — a gift
  11. spell — letters
  12. present — there
  13. pound — a weight
  14. march — the month
  15. spell — a short time
  16. march — the month
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. present — the time now
  19. game — a match
  20. spell — magic
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. pound — for dogs
  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