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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. kick — in football
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. hand — help
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. rash — hasty
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. stem — to come from
  13. rash — a series
  14. pound — a weight
  15. cold — an illness
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — child
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. kid — to tease
  24. hand — in cards

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