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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. kid — child
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. cold — an illness
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. scale — size or range
  9. bulb — for light
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. bulb — for light
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. sharp — clever
  18. squash — the sport
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pass — a permit
  22. scale — in music
  23. land — ground
  24. land — a country

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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