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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: rash · spring · pit · season · game · ground · kid · cold

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. ground — a position
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. game — a match
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. rash — hasty
  8. ground — crushed
  9. game — wild animals
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. ground — the earth
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pit — in a race
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. pit — a hole
  17. spring — of water
  18. cold — an illness
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. season — of the year
  21. season — in sport
  22. spring — a coil
  23. rash — a series
  24. spring — the season

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