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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bound — tied together
  3. cold — an illness
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. stand — to bear
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. degree — from a university
  9. pop — soda
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bound — obliged
  13. deal — to handle
  14. tube — a container
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — child
  17. pop — to visit
  18. degree — an amount
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. bound — certain
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. pop — music
  23. tube — the underground
  24. degree — temperature

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