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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. fork — in a road
  5. ball — a great time
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. capital — money
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. ball — a dance
  12. capital — a city
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — not warm
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. mine — for digging
  22. kid — to tease
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. hide — to keep secret

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