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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 116 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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. kid — child
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. bound — certain
  5. bound — obliged
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. field — for sport
  8. kid — to tease
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. scale — in music
  11. net — in sport
  12. field — farmland
  13. net — after costs
  14. row — a line
  15. rash — a series
  16. bound — tied together
  17. net — for catching
  18. field — a subject
  19. cap — a lid
  20. rash — hasty
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. cap — of ice
  23. row — to paddle
  24. scale — size or range

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