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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 120 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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. perch — the fish
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. kid — child
  6. pop — music
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. dip — to sink
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kid — to tease
  11. capital — money
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. capital — a city
  15. land — ground
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. land — a country
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. land — to come down
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pop — to visit
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pop — soda
  24. bowl — a dish

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