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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spell — magic
  6. prune — to trim
  7. drill — a practice
  8. spell — a short time
  9. current — of water
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. capital — a city
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. ball — a great time
  16. spell — letters
  17. current — happening now
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. current — electric
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. drill — the tool
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — money
  24. drill — army training

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