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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. branch — a division
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. pit — a hole
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. content — happy
  10. wound — an injury
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. wound — an injury
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. pit — in a race
  17. game — wild animals
  18. content — the amount
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. kick — in football
  22. game — a match
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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