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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 116 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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — child
  4. ground — a position
  5. shower — to wash
  6. season — in sport
  7. present — a gift
  8. hand — help
  9. vault — a safe
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. file — a line of people
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. file — a document
  14. shower — rain
  15. present — the time now
  16. ground — crushed
  17. present — there
  18. file — a tool
  19. ground — the earth
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. hand — in cards
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. hand — part of the body

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