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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — child
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — to tease
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — not warm
  13. march — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cell — a phone
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. kick — in football

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