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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — in football
  4. rush — hurry
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. band — a ring
  10. game — wild animals
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. band — a music group
  16. game — a match
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. rush — a thrill

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