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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. swing — music
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — crushed
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — the fruit
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. swing — in golf
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — child
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — for digging
  21. swing — to play on
  22. branch — a division
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. mine — belonging to me

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