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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: date · kid · cold · chest · pound · stick

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pound — a weight
  4. chest — a box
  5. date — the fruit
  6. cold — not warm
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. kid — to tease
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. kid — child
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. chest — of your body
  18. 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