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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bore — to tire
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — not warm
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. band — a ring
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. saw — the tool
  13. saw — the tool
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. band — a music group
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. mine — for digging
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. bore — to drill
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. pass — a permit
  24. pass — to spend time

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