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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. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  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. rest — what's left
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. kid — to tease
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. scale — size or range
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. scale — in music
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kid — child
  15. chest — of your body
  16. rest — a break
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. sharp — clever
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chest — a box
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  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