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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — an illness
  3. file — a line of people
  4. kid — child
  5. mug — a cup
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mug — to rob
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cold — not warm
  15. game — a match
  16. mug — a face
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. file — a document
  19. mate — a partner
  20. mate — to breed
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. wind — moving air
  23. file — a tool
  24. game — a kind of play

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