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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — in football
  3. bear — the animal
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. wake — a trail
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. court — for sport
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. clip — a video
  10. bear — the animal
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cold — an illness
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — to tease
  16. clip — to cut
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — of law
  19. clip — for paper
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. foot — a measure
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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