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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. saw — the tool
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. wind — moving air
  6. spring — a coil
  7. scale — size or range
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. court — of law
  10. scale — in music
  11. spring — the season
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. wind — moving air
  14. court — of a king
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. court — for sport
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. kick — in football
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. spring — of water

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