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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: kid · coach · snap · game · cold · kick · pit · rock

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. rock — music
  3. kid — to tease
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. pit — a hole
  7. pit — in a race
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. game — wild animals
  10. kick — in football
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. rock — a stone
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. cold — an illness
  16. game — a match
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. kid — child
  24. snap — to click

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