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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 120 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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468
Word bank
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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fine — all right
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. object — a thing
  9. march — the month
  10. march — music
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — the season
  13. march — the month
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. kid — child
  18. wound — an injury
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. fine — high quality
  22. object — an aim
  23. object — to protest
  24. wound — an injury

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