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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kick — in football
  5. wake — a trail
  6. chest — of your body
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bat — the animal
  10. clip — a video
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. clip — to cut
  13. charge — a price
  14. cell — a phone
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. chest — a box
  19. charge — in control
  20. cell — in biology
  21. pit — in a race
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. charge — electricity
  24. wake — before a funeral

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