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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — a coil
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. chest — of your body
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. tear — from crying
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — a video
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chest — a box
  17. stand — to bear
  18. chest — of your body
  19. tear — from crying
  20. shower — rain
  21. tear — to rip
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. shower — to wash
  24. spring — of water

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