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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. land — to come down
  3. mine — for digging
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. spell — magic
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. squash — the sport
  9. bound — obliged
  10. squash — to crush
  11. land — ground
  12. bound — certain
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — to tease
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. spell — letters
  17. spell — a short time
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. bound — tied together
  20. land — a country
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. nail — for a hammer

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