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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. bat — the animal
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. present — the time now
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. present — a gift
  9. chest — a box
  10. kick — in football
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. chest — of your body
  13. clip — a video
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. chest — of your body
  18. clip — for paper

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