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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 116 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'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. mate — a friend
  3. cold — an illness
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cue — a signal
  6. kid — child
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. cold — not warm
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. spring — the season
  17. bore — to tire
  18. mate — a partner
  19. cue — for pool
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bore — to drill
  22. kid — to tease
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. spring — of water

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