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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 116 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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. field — for sport
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — farmland
  7. march — the month
  8. bank — for money
  9. cold — not warm
  10. field — a subject
  11. kid — child
  12. cold — an illness
  13. march — music
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. march — the month
  16. content — the amount
  17. bank — of a river
  18. content — happy
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — to tease
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. bank — for money

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