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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. spring — of water
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cap — of ice
  5. pitch — completely
  6. spring — the season
  7. scale — in music
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. scale — size or range
  14. kid — child
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. pit — a hole
  17. cap — a hat
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. wind — moving air
  20. spring — a coil
  21. pit — in a race
  22. tear — to rip
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wind — moving air

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