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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bound — tied together
  6. net — in sport
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bound — obliged
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kid — child
  12. court — for sport
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cold — an illness
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. net — after costs
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. court — of law
  20. cold — not warm
  21. season — in sport
  22. court — of a king
  23. bound — certain
  24. net — for catching

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