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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. ground — crushed
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. swing — music
  5. swing — to play on
  6. fine — all right
  7. cold — not warm
  8. swing — in golf
  9. spell — letters
  10. mark — a trace
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. spell — magic
  13. spell — a short time
  14. fine — high quality
  15. ground — a position
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. kick — in football
  21. saw — the tool
  22. ground — the earth
  23. mark — a grade
  24. fine — a penalty

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