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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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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — an illness
  3. kid — child
  4. chair — a leader
  5. wind — moving air
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. capital — a city
  9. march — the month
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. march — the month
  16. wind — moving air
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — not warm
  19. ball — a great time
  20. march — music
  21. kid — to tease
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. ball — a dance
  24. capital — money

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