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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. rush — hurry
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. sharp — clever
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — in music
  8. row — to paddle
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. scale — size or range
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. game — a match
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. row — a line
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. kick — in football
  23. game — wild animals
  24. sharp — with an edge

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