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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 sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. fall — to drop
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. bore — to tire
  7. bore — to drill
  8. fall — the season
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — child
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cell — in biology
  22. spring — a coil
  23. kid — to tease
  24. coach — a trainer

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