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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cold — not warm
  9. date — the fruit
  10. foot — a measure
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. capital — money
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bass — low music
  15. kid — child
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. capital — a city
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. bass — the fish
  21. cold — an illness
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. kick — in football
  24. date — on the calendar

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