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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 124 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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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. chest — of your body
  4. lie — to recline
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. wind — moving air
  8. date — the fruit
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bound — obliged
  11. chest — a box
  12. field — a subject
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. bound — certain
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. field — farmland
  20. ground — a position
  21. field — for sport
  22. bound — tied together
  23. chest — of your body
  24. ground — the earth

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