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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — in football
  3. bass — low music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. spring — the season
  6. staff — a stick
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. staff — employees
  12. row — a line
  13. staff — employees
  14. prune — to trim
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. spring — of water
  18. tear — to rip
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. prune — to trim
  22. row — to paddle
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. spring — a coil

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