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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kid — to tease
  4. club — a group
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. club — for golf
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. club — for dancing
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. rash — a series
  13. rash — hasty
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. plane — a tool
  16. court — of a king
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. capital — money
  19. kid — child
  20. capital — a city
  21. bat — the animal
  22. court — for sport
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. court — of law

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