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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. bat — the animal
  3. row — to paddle
  4. kick — in football
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. swing — to play on
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. pit — a hole
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — finally
  16. last — final
  17. cold — not warm
  18. row — a line
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. last — to go on
  23. swing — in golf
  24. pit — in a race

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