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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 120 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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. chest — of your body
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. object — a thing
  7. file — a document
  8. kid — child
  9. object — to protest
  10. shower — rain
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. sharp — clever
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. rush — hurry
  15. object — an aim
  16. shower — to wash
  17. kid — to tease
  18. chest — of your body
  19. kick — in football
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a tool
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. file — a line of people
  24. sharp — with an edge

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