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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. key — for a lock
  3. ball — a great time
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. shower — to wash
  9. key — in music
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. ball — a dance
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. spell — magic
  14. shower — rain
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. spell — letters
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spell — a short time
  20. cold — not warm
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. key — the most important part
  23. sharp — clever
  24. ball — a round shape

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