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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 124 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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. saw — the tool
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. kid — to tease
  8. chest — of your body
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. date — the fruit
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. capital — money
  13. rush — hurry
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. row — a line
  16. capital — a city
  17. row — to paddle
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. rash — hasty
  23. kid — child
  24. saw — the tool

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