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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bass — low music
  3. cap — of ice
  4. row — a line
  5. bat — the animal
  6. file — a tool
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. kick — in football
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. pit — in a race
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cap — a hat
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. pit — a hole
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cap — a lid
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. bass — the fish
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. file — a document
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. file — a line of people

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