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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. squash — the sport
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. fall — the season
  6. cold — not warm
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — music
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. fall — to drop
  12. swing — in golf
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cold — an illness
  17. lie — to recline
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wind — moving air
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. rush — hurry
  23. squash — to crush
  24. fall — to drop

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