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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. shower — to wash
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. shower — rain
  9. cold — an illness
  10. charge — in control
  11. plane — a tool
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. kick — in football
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. charge — a price
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — a line
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. cold — not warm
  22. row — to paddle
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. charge — electricity

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