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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. game — wild animals
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — to tease
  6. can — a tin
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. cold — not warm
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. can — a tin
  16. can — to be able to
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. wake — a trail
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. cold — an illness
  22. kick — in football
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. game — a match

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