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

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. bat — the animal
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. stem — to come from
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. kick — in football
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. mine — for digging
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — to tease
  19. squash — to crush
  20. cold — an illness
  21. squash — the sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. dip — to sink
  24. squash — the vegetable

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