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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. pop — music
  4. spring — a coil
  5. key — in music
  6. key — the most important part
  7. band — a music group
  8. kid — to tease
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — of law
  12. pop — to visit
  13. kid — child
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — an illness
  16. court — for sport
  17. pop — soda
  18. cold — not warm
  19. court — of a king
  20. band — a ring
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. key — for a lock

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