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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. spring — the season
  4. mine — for digging
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — child
  8. craft — a skill
  9. spring — of water
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. pound — a weight
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. cold — an illness
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. shower — rain
  21. craft — boats
  22. rush — hurry
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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