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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. scale — in music
  6. fall — to drop
  7. kick — in football
  8. row — to paddle
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. scale — size or range
  11. wound — an injury
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. row — a line
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. last — finally
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — final
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. date — the fruit

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