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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. march — the month
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. march — music
  8. kid — to tease
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. mate — a friend
  11. cold — not warm
  12. key — in music
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. march — the month
  15. key — the most important part
  16. key — for a lock
  17. cap — a hat
  18. mate — to breed
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — of ice
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. mate — a partner
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. kid — child

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