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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. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. mark — a grade
  4. cell — in biology
  5. mark — a trace
  6. tear — from crying
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. fine — all right
  11. fine — high quality
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. row — to paddle
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. row — a line
  17. kid — to tease
  18. squash — the sport
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cell — a phone
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cell — in a prison

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