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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: cold · kid · wind · game · bay · court · squash · lean

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. bay — a horse colour
  2. game — wild animals
  3. court — of law
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. kid — to tease
  8. squash — the sport
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wind — moving air
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. squash — to crush
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. kid — child
  19. wind — moving air
  20. lean — thin
  21. game — a match
  22. lean — to bend
  23. cold — an illness
  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