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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. file — a tool
  6. mine — for digging
  7. wind — moving air
  8. last — final
  9. spell — a short time
  10. last — to go on
  11. file — a document
  12. cell — a phone
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. kid — to tease
  16. spell — magic
  17. cell — in biology
  18. last — finally
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — child
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. kick — in football
  23. wind — moving air
  24. spell — letters

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