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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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Word bank
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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — in football
  3. wax — to grow
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. capital — a city
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. game — a match
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. pit — in a race
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. capital — money
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — to tease
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. pit — a hole
  22. clip — to cut
  23. game — wild animals
  24. ruler — for measuring

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