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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. vault — a safe
  5. wind — moving air
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. wind — moving air
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. kid — to tease
  12. hand — help
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. kid — child
  15. land — a country
  16. hand — in cards
  17. land — to come down
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. snap — to click
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — a jug

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