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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bore — to tire
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. field — for sport
  5. kick — in football
  6. shower — to wash
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — for digging
  12. ground — the earth
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. field — farmland
  15. shower — rain
  16. cap — of ice
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. bore — to drill
  19. cap — a lid
  20. field — a subject
  21. cap — a hat
  22. ground — a position
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. ground — crushed

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