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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. hand — in cards
  3. board — a committee
  4. cold — an illness
  5. land — to come down
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. land — a country
  8. hand — help
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. kid — child
  12. key — the most important part
  13. key — in music
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. board — to get on
  16. mark — a trace
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. key — for a lock
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. kid — to tease
  21. mark — a grade
  22. land — ground
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. board — a flat piece

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