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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. file — a tool
  3. saw — the tool
  4. net — after costs
  5. file — a document
  6. spell — magic
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. net — in sport
  12. spell — a short time
  13. spell — letters
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. season — of the year
  16. shower — rain
  17. saw — the tool
  18. season — in sport
  19. march — music
  20. net — for catching
  21. march — the month
  22. shower — to wash
  23. file — a line of people
  24. march — the month

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