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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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Word bank
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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — not warm
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. snap — to click
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. stem — to come from
  15. wound — an injury
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. kick — in football
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. row — a quarrel

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