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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: kid · cold · mark · pit · saw · scale · ground · game

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. mark — a trace
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. kid — to tease
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pit — in a race
  8. kid — child
  9. scale — in music
  10. game — a match
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cold — an illness
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. saw — the tool
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. pit — a hole
  18. mark — a grade
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. ground — a position
  21. scale — size or range
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. ground — crushed
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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