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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 124 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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — in football
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. sharp — clever
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. net — after costs
  8. present — a gift
  9. net — for catching
  10. hand — help
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. present — there
  17. plane — a tool
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. present — the time now
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. net — in sport
  22. date — the fruit
  23. hand — in cards
  24. plane — in geometry

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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