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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. bound — certain
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. key — for a lock
  6. key — the most important part
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. cold — not warm
  9. hand — help
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bound — obliged
  12. club — for golf
  13. key — in music
  14. bound — tied together
  15. swing — to play on
  16. hand — in cards
  17. club — for dancing
  18. club — a group
  19. tube — a container
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cold — an illness
  22. tube — the underground
  23. swing — music
  24. kid — to tease

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