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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. root — of a plant
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — in football
  7. root — of a word
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. root — the cause
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. bat — the animal
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. game — a match
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a city
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bat — for baseball

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