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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. kid — to tease
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. field — for sport
  7. march — the month
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. march — music
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. field — a subject
  13. ball — a great time
  14. tear — from crying
  15. ball — a dance
  16. tear — to rip
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. field — farmland
  21. march — the month
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. kid — child
  24. straw — a straw man

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