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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. tear — from crying
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. tear — from crying
  9. charge — electricity
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. rash — hasty
  13. clip — to cut
  14. squash — the sport
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rash — a series
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. kick — in football
  19. charge — a price
  20. charge — in control
  21. clip — a video
  22. tear — to rip
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pitcher — a jug

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