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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 120 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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cap — of ice
  6. march — the month
  7. cap — a hat
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cap — a lid
  14. bass — low music
  15. tear — to rip
  16. march — the month
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. march — music
  19. kid — child
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. bass — the fish
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. hide — to keep secret

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