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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. tear — to rip
  4. kid — child
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a line of people
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. cold — an illness
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. bore — to tire
  14. bore — to drill
  15. file — a tool
  16. kick — in football
  17. file — a document
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — to tease
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bore — gave birth

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