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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. net — for catching
  3. net — after costs
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. file — a line of people
  6. ground — the earth
  7. mine — for digging
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. net — in sport
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. ground — a position
  12. court — of law
  13. file — a tool
  14. court — for sport
  15. kick — in football
  16. file — a document
  17. sharp — clever
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. ground — crushed
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. court — of a king
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. stem — to come from

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