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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kid — child
  3. rash — a series
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. race — a contest
  9. content — happy
  10. key — the most important part
  11. prune — to trim
  12. race — humankind
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. race — the arms race
  15. wound — an injury
  16. key — in music
  17. key — for a lock
  18. kid — to tease
  19. content — the amount
  20. rash — hasty
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. prune — to trim
  23. shower — rain
  24. rash — on the skin

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