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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bore — to tire
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. chest — of your body
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. chest — a box
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. cold — an illness
  15. game — a match
  16. chest — of your body
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. dip — to sink
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. hide — to keep secret

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