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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. chip — to eat
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. clip — a video
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. bark — to shout
  8. kick — in football
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. clip — for paper
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. rush — hurry
  15. rule — a law
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. rule — government
  19. capital — a city
  20. chip — for betting
  21. bat — the animal
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. capital — money

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