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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. kick — in football
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. cold — not warm
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. row — a line
  13. game — wild animals
  14. mark — a trace
  15. pitch — completely
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. mark — a grade
  19. game — a match
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. row — to paddle

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