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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — child
  12. kid — to tease
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. ball — a dance
  16. bark — to shout
  17. hand — in cards
  18. ball — a great time
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — soda
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. pop — to visit

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