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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cell — a phone
  3. kid — child
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. season — of the year
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. scale — in music
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. scale — size or range
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bound — tied together
  13. bound — certain
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. toast — bread
  16. court — of law
  17. hand — in cards
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — for sport
  20. toast — the most admired
  21. season — in sport
  22. bound — obliged
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cell — in biology

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