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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. current — happening now
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. court — of law
  6. march — music
  7. cold — an illness
  8. file — a tool
  9. swing — to play on
  10. mine — for digging
  11. march — the month
  12. current — of water
  13. court — for sport
  14. kick — in football
  15. march — the month
  16. court — of a king
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. swing — music
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. swing — in golf
  23. current — electric
  24. file — a document

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