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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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. cold — not warm
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. ball — a great time
  6. wind — moving air
  7. branch — a division
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. ball — a dance
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. rash — hasty
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. cold — an illness
  20. land — a country
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. rash — a series

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