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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 124 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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. rush — hurry
  3. kick — in football
  4. cell — in biology
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. present — a gift
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. present — there
  10. cell — a phone
  11. prune — to trim
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. prune — to trim
  14. object — a thing
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. chest — of your body
  20. object — an aim
  21. present — the time now
  22. chest — a box
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. straw — a straw man

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