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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. date — the fruit
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mate — a friend
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. wake — a trail
  15. mate — to breed
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. kick — in football
  21. field — farmland
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. kid — child
  24. mate — a partner

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