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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. tear — from crying
  3. scale — in music
  4. tear — to rip
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. tear — from crying
  7. rash — a series
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. rash — hasty
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — to tease
  13. game — wild animals
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. spell — magic
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spell — a short time
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. kid — child
  20. spell — letters
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. scale — size or range
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. cold — not warm

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