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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kick — in football
  6. rest — what's left
  7. clip — for paper
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bat — the animal
  11. fall — to drop
  12. rest — a break
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. fall — the season
  15. clip — a video
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rest — what's left
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cap — of ice
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. bat — in an idiom

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