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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. present — a gift
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — a stick
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. staff — employees
  10. present — there
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fine — high quality
  14. chair — a leader
  15. cold — an illness
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. fine — all right
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cold — not warm
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. present — the time now
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. chair — a professorship

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