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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. snap — to click
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. clip — a video
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — child
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fall — to drop
  14. kick — in football
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. scale — size or range
  17. fall — to drop
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. kid — to tease
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. scale — in music
  22. fall — the season
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. chair — a leader

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