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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 116 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 · bat · mouse · cold · staff · prune · spell · content

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. spell — a short time
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. staff — a stick
  12. spell — magic
  13. prune — to trim
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. content — happy
  16. staff — employees
  17. kid — child
  18. staff — employees
  19. content — the amount
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. kid — to tease
  23. spell — letters
  24. cold — not warm

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