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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. cold — not warm
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. march — music
  9. sharp — clever
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. land — ground
  14. wound — an injury
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. land — a country
  17. vault — a safe
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. fork — in a road
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. land — to come down
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wound — an injury

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