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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. pop — soda
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spell — a short time
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pop — music
  8. spell — letters
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. swing — music
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cold — an illness
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. shower — to wash
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. pop — to visit
  18. swing — in golf
  19. prune — to trim
  20. spell — magic
  21. shower — rain
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. swing — to play on
  24. arm — part of the body

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