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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. scale — size or range
  4. bat — the animal
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. pit — a hole
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — the arms race
  9. pit — in a race
  10. scale — in music
  11. spring — a coil
  12. file — a document
  13. spring — of water
  14. kick — in football
  15. spring — the season
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — a leader
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a tool
  24. race — humankind

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