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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. bore — to drill
  5. bore — to tire
  6. kid — to tease
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. pass — a permit
  9. plane — a tool
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — to sink
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. cold — an illness
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. kid — child
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. plane — in geometry

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