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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. charge — a price
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. charge — electricity
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. press — to push
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. sharp — clever
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. kick — in football
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cold — not warm
  15. charge — in control
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. press — newspapers
  21. cell — in biology
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — size or range

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