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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hide · swing · last · kid · cold · rule

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. cold — an illness
  3. kid — to tease
  4. swing — in golf
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. kid — child
  7. last — finally
  8. rule — government
  9. last — final
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. last — to go on
  12. rule — a law
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. swing — to play on

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