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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. march — the month
  3. content — happy
  4. bear — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. bear — the animal
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pit — in a race
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. content — the amount
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kick — in football
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. pit — a hole
  20. kid — child
  21. march — music
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. march — the month
  24. shower — to wash

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