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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. pop — music
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. scale — in music
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — the tool
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — size or range
  11. pop — to visit
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. pop — soda
  14. kick — in football
  15. cell — a phone
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — of water
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. dip — to sink
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cell — in biology

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