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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. swing — to play on
  3. cold — an illness
  4. swing — music
  5. bore — to drill
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. swing — in golf
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cell — in biology
  11. kick — in football
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. cell — a phone
  15. current — of water
  16. roll — a list
  17. bore — to tire
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. roll — a cake
  20. wound — an injury
  21. current — electric
  22. wound — an injury
  23. current — happening now
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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