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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: last · scale · squash · cabinet · cold · game · kid · fork

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. cold — an illness
  3. kid — to tease
  4. last — to go on
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. scale — in music
  7. kid — child
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. squash — the sport
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. last — final
  19. fork — in a road
  20. squash — to crush
  21. game — wild animals
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. game — a match
  24. scale — size or range

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