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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kid — child
  4. game — wild animals
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. game — a match
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bank — for money
  9. scale — in music
  10. can — to be able to
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bank — for money
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bank — of a river
  15. row — a line
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. scale — size or range
  20. cold — an illness
  21. kid — to tease
  22. can — a tin
  23. can — a tin
  24. row — to paddle

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