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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bear — the animal
  4. bear — the animal
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. kid — child
  10. prune — to trim
  11. kid — to tease
  12. field — a subject
  13. wind — moving air
  14. field — for sport
  15. prune — to trim
  16. dip — to sink
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. field — farmland
  21. shower — to wash
  22. hand — help
  23. wind — moving air
  24. shower — rain

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