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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: last · cold · fall · kid · pit · wind · deal · chest

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. chest — a box
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cold — an illness
  8. kid — to tease
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. fall — the season
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. last — final
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. pit — in a race
  17. last — finally
  18. last — to go on
  19. chest — of your body
  20. deal — to handle
  21. pit — a hole
  22. kid — child
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. fall — to drop

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