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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pit — a hole
  3. squash — the sport
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. season — in sport
  7. kid — child
  8. file — a tool
  9. season — of the year
  10. mark — a grade
  11. squash — to crush
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. kid — to tease
  14. shower — rain
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. shower — to wash
  18. hand — in cards
  19. file — a document
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. mark — a trace
  23. pit — in a race
  24. file — a line of people

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