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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. file — a line of people
  3. present — there
  4. present — the time now
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. present — a gift
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mine — for digging
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. file — a tool
  12. bear — the animal
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. bear — the animal
  16. kid — child
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. row — to paddle
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. row — a line
  24. file — a document

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