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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. shower — rain
  3. swing — in golf
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. march — the month
  6. swing — music
  7. hand — help
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. swing — to play on
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. hand — in cards
  15. shower — to wash
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. content — the amount
  18. content — happy
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. march — music
  21. kick — in football
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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