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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — to tease
  5. present — the time now
  6. chip — for betting
  7. row — a line
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — finally
  10. game — wild animals
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. kid — child
  14. chip — to eat
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. present — a gift
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lie — to recline
  20. present — there
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. game — a match
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. row — to paddle

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