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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. file — a line of people
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. net — for catching
  6. file — a document
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. net — in sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. file — a tool
  11. rush — hurry
  12. net — after costs
  13. stem — to come from
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. bear — the animal
  22. bear — the animal
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. fan — a supporter

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