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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. charge — electricity
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. ground — crushed
  5. hand — in cards
  6. kick — in football
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. cold — an illness
  13. charge — a price
  14. swing — music
  15. band — a ring
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. ground — the earth
  19. band — a music group
  20. swing — in golf
  21. charge — in control
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. swing — to play on
  24. ground — a position

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