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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 116 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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mate — a friend
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. fall — to drop
  5. fall — to drop
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. last — to go on
  8. cold — not warm
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. mine — for digging
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — final
  16. last — finally
  17. mate — a partner
  18. kid — child
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. fall — the season
  21. branch — a division
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mate — to breed
  24. chair — a leader

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