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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cold — an illness
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. mine — for digging
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bat — the animal
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. rash — a series
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. fine — high quality
  16. rash — hasty
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. fine — all right
  20. kid — child
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. rash — on the skin

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