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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 120 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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bark — to shout
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — an amount
  5. kick — in football
  6. degree — temperature
  7. chip — to eat
  8. chest — of your body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. march — music
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. hand — help
  16. degree — from a university
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. chip — for betting
  24. march — the month

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