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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. row — to paddle
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — help
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. row — a line
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — not warm
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. kid — child
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. plane — a tool
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. kid — to tease
  23. hand — in cards
  24. plane — in geometry

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