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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — child
  3. cold — not warm
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. cap — a lid
  6. cap — of ice
  7. ball — a dance
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. ball — a great time
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — an illness
  20. snap — to click
  21. rest — what's left
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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