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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. key — the most important part
  4. file — a line of people
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. net — in sport
  10. file — a tool
  11. wound — an injury
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. kick — in football
  15. clip — a video
  16. wound — an injury
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mark — a trace
  19. key — for a lock
  20. file — a document
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. key — in music
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. mark — a grade

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