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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: chest · date · jam · ground · spell · game · cold · kid

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. ground — a position
  4. spell — magic
  5. kid — child
  6. ground — crushed
  7. kid — to tease
  8. chest — of your body
  9. spell — letters
  10. chest — a box
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. date — the fruit
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. ground — the earth
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. game — a match
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. spell — a short time

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