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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: staff · game · temple · kid · mark · cold · hand · present

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — a stick
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. hand — in cards
  6. cold — an illness
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. kid — to tease
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. kid — child
  13. hand — help
  14. present — there
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — a gift
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. mark — a trace
  21. staff — employees
  22. mark — a grade
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — wild animals

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