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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. bound — obliged
  4. file — a line of people
  5. current — of water
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. chair — a leader
  8. file — a tool
  9. bore — to tire
  10. current — electric
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cold — not warm
  13. rock — music
  14. bound — tied together
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. bound — certain
  20. current — happening now
  21. rock — a stone
  22. bore — to drill
  23. file — a document
  24. kid — child

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