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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: chair · cold · kid · rash · kick · bowl · field · content

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. rash — hasty
  4. kick — in football
  5. rash — a series
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. field — a subject
  9. content — happy
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — child
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chair — a leader
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. field — for sport
  20. content — the amount
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. field — farmland
  23. bowl — a dish
  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