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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  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. bore — to tire
  2. rush — hurry
  3. game — wild animals
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bore — to drill
  6. game — a match
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. spell — a short time
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cold — an illness
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. row — a line
  18. spell — letters
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. kid — child
  22. saw — the tool
  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