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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bass — the fish
  3. game — a match
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. kid — child
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. kid — to tease
  8. game — wild animals
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. scale — in music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. scale — size or range
  17. bass — low music
  18. wound — an injury
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. nail — for a hammer

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