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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. spring — the season
  3. club — a group
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. spell — a short time
  6. band — a ring
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. kid — to tease
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tube — the underground
  11. kick — in football
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. spring — a coil
  14. kid — child
  15. club — for dancing
  16. spell — letters
  17. cold — not warm
  18. club — for golf
  19. spring — of water
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — an illness
  22. band — a music group
  23. tube — a container
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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