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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. mine — for digging
  3. spring — a coil
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. swing — music
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. swing — to play on
  12. bark — to shout
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. spring — of water
  15. swing — in golf
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. kick — in football
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. spring — the season
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bat — the animal

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