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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 124 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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. kid — to tease
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. date — the fruit
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bear — the animal
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. kid — child
  15. track — to keep track
  16. drill — the tool
  17. track — a path
  18. bear — the animal
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cell — in biology
  23. drill — army training
  24. mouse — the animal

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