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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. court — of law
  3. lean — thin
  4. chest — a box
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. content — happy
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. content — the amount
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — of your body
  16. court — for sport
  17. pit — in a race
  18. clip — for paper
  19. lean — to bend
  20. clip — a video
  21. pit — a hole
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. court — of a king
  24. clip — to cut

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