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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wound — an injury
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. net — for catching
  8. clip — for paper
  9. field — farmland
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — after costs
  15. clip — to cut
  16. field — for sport
  17. clip — a video
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. dip — to sink
  21. field — a subject
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. kick — in football

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