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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. shower — rain
  4. branch — a division
  5. last — finally
  6. chest — of your body
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. chest — a box
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. kick — in football
  11. roll — a list
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. chest — of your body
  14. last — final
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. roll — a cake
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. swing — in golf
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — to play on
  24. last — to go on

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