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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. drill — a practice
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. file — a document
  6. wake — a trail
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. drill — the tool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stock — goods
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. file — a tool
  14. drill — army training
  15. stock — shares
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kick — in football
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cold — an illness
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. file — a line of people
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. snap — to click

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