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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ground — crushed
  8. saw — the tool
  9. vault — a safe
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. chest — of your body
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. track — a song
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ground — a position
  16. saw — the tool
  17. track — to keep track
  18. track — a path
  19. ground — the earth
  20. cold — an illness
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. chest — a box
  24. kid — child

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