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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chest — a box
  4. game — a match
  5. kid — child
  6. game — wild animals
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. kid — to tease
  10. chest — of your body
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pitch — completely
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. chest — of your body

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