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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. kid — child
  3. row — a line
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. shower — to wash
  10. track — a path
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. cap — a lid
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. shower — rain
  15. row — to paddle
  16. track — to keep track
  17. cap — of ice
  18. cap — a hat
  19. game — a match
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. game — wild animals
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. kid — to tease

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