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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cold — an illness
  3. court — for sport
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. ball — a dance
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. track — a path
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. ball — a great time
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. track — to keep track
  15. sharp — clever
  16. cold — not warm
  17. court — of law
  18. court — of a king
  19. dip — to sink
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. kid — child
  23. track — a song
  24. lie — to recline

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