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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. kick — in football
  4. game — a match
  5. file — a document
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. chest — a box
  9. stock — shares
  10. file — a tool
  11. cap — a lid
  12. stock — goods
  13. file — a line of people
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. pit — a hole
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pit — in a race
  21. cap — of ice
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. cap — a hat
  24. game — wild animals

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