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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. wound — an injury
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. game — wild animals
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. wound — an injury
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. tear — from crying
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. sharp — clever
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kick — in football
  22. tear — to rip
  23. row — a line
  24. kick — with a leg

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