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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 116 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. stand — to bear
  5. march — the month
  6. game — a match
  7. game — wild animals
  8. clip — for paper
  9. file — a tool
  10. march — the month
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. kick — in football
  14. clip — a video
  15. file — a line of people
  16. clip — to cut
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. march — music
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. file — a document
  24. rash — a series

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