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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pit — in a race
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — help
  8. kid — to tease
  9. wake — a trail
  10. kid — child
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bore — to drill
  18. date — the fruit
  19. pit — a hole
  20. hand — in cards
  21. shower — rain
  22. bore — to tire
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. date — on the calendar

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