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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. ground — crushed
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pit — a hole
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. ground — the earth
  10. ground — a position
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. pit — in a race
  13. kid — child
  14. net — in sport
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. net — for catching
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. net — after costs
  23. kid — to tease
  24. cold — not warm

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