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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. kid — to tease
  4. field — farmland
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. row — a line
  7. cold — an illness
  8. safe — a strongbox
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. charge — a price
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. kid — child
  15. game — a match
  16. row — to paddle
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. charge — in control
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — for sport
  24. game — wild animals

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