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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. swing — to play on
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. net — after costs
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. net — in sport
  9. vault — a safe
  10. kick — in football
  11. rush — hurry
  12. snap — to click
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. mine — for digging
  17. swing — in golf
  18. net — for catching
  19. march — music
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. swing — music

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