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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — of the year
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. hand — in cards
  5. kick — in football
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bound — certain
  9. wind — moving air
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. hand — help
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — from a university
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. bound — obliged
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bound — tied together
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. game — a match
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. wind — moving air
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. season — in sport
  24. arm — part of the body

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