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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. drill — the tool
  4. capital — money
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — to tease
  8. capital — a city
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. season — in sport
  12. drill — army training
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. cold — not warm
  18. drill — a practice
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. wind — moving air

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