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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. bat — the animal
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. land — ground
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. rule — a law
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. shower — rain
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. squash — the sport
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. rule — government
  17. kick — in football
  18. land — a country
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — not warm
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. squash — to crush
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. cold — an illness

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