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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. lean — thin
  3. land — a country
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chest — of your body
  6. lean — to bend
  7. tear — from crying
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. snap — to click
  10. kick — in football
  11. land — to come down
  12. deal — to handle
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. land — ground
  15. tear — to rip
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. chest — of your body
  20. tear — from crying
  21. chest — a box
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. lean — to rest against

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