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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  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. hand — in cards
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. hand — help
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wound — an injury
  8. face — to point toward
  9. swing — to play on
  10. spring — the season
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. face — part of the head
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. spring — of water
  16. wound — an injury
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. face — to confront
  19. spring — a coil
  20. swing — in golf
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. kick — in football
  23. hand — part of the body
  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