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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. court — of law
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. suit — in cards
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. suit — to fit
  7. rest — what's left
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. rest — what's left
  12. court — of a king
  13. wound — an injury
  14. rest — a break
  15. court — for sport
  16. kick — in football
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ground — crushed
  20. swing — to play on
  21. suit — clothes
  22. swing — music
  23. cold — not warm
  24. swing — in golf

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