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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. wound — an injury
  3. saw — the tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. cold — not warm
  7. saw — the tool
  8. last — finally
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. kid — to tease
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. pitch — completely
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wound — an injury
  16. capital — a city
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. last — final
  19. snap — to click
  20. last — to go on
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. kid — child
  23. capital — money
  24. cold — the Cold War

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