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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wound — an injury
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. wound — an injury
  8. deal — to handle
  9. track — a path
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. kick — in football
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. row — a line
  17. rush — hurry
  18. clip — to cut
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. track — to keep track
  21. track — a song
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. clip — a video
  24. row — to paddle

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