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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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Word bank
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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: root · mug · cabinet · spring · chest · cold · can · kid

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. cold — not warm
  3. root — the cause
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. kid — child
  9. chest — of your body
  10. can — a tin
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — of water
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. chest — a box
  17. mug — a face
  18. root — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. can — a tin
  21. mug — to rob
  22. mug — a cup
  23. root — of a word
  24. cold — an illness

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