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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — an illness
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. present — there
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. shower — to wash
  9. court — for sport
  10. present — a gift
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. kid — to tease
  13. shower — rain
  14. vault — a safe
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — of law
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. present — the time now
  19. pit — in a race
  20. pit — a hole
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. lean — to bend
  23. court — of a king
  24. cold — the Cold War

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