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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. track — to keep track
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. cold — an illness
  7. last — to go on
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. last — final
  12. scale — size or range
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — not warm
  17. last — finally
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. scale — in music
  20. mine — for digging
  21. kick — in football
  22. track — a path
  23. track — a song
  24. fan — to cool the air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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