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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. fine — high quality
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. cue — for pool
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. scale — in music
  9. wax — to grow
  10. cue — a signal
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. kid — child
  13. cue — a hint
  14. fine — all right
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. scale — size or range
  17. cold — an illness
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. root — the cause
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. kid — to tease
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — of a word

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