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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. ground — the earth
  3. kid — to tease
  4. last — final
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. pit — a hole
  7. ground — crushed
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wake — a trail
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. ground — a position
  12. rash — hasty
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. last — finally
  15. last — to go on
  16. kid — child
  17. pit — in a race
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. game — a match
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. game — wild animals
  23. march — music
  24. rash — a series

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