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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. drill — army training
  6. bat — the animal
  7. field — for sport
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — hurry
  13. cap — a lid
  14. kick — in football
  15. field — a subject
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. field — farmland
  21. cap — a hat
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cap — of ice
  24. kick — with a leg

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