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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. wind — moving air
  3. clip — to cut
  4. kick — in football
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — a position
  7. track — to keep track
  8. race — the arms race
  9. swing — to play on
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. race — humankind
  12. bear — the animal
  13. swing — in golf
  14. bear — the animal
  15. track — a path
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. race — a contest
  18. track — a song
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. swing — music
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wind — moving air

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