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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. court — of a king
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bat — the animal
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. court — of law
  10. game — wild animals
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. kick — in football
  13. scale — in music
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. court — for sport
  21. row — a line
  22. game — a match
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. shower — rain

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