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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. lean — thin
  5. kick — in football
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. clip — for paper
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. clip — a video
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. squash — to crush
  14. mark — a grade
  15. cold — an illness
  16. lean — to bend
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wake — a trail
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mark — a trace
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. cold — the Cold War

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