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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. pound — a weight
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. kid — to tease
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. rash — a series
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. rash — hasty
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. kid — child
  24. game — wild animals

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