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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. net — after costs
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. race — humankind
  5. drill — a practice
  6. net — for catching
  7. pop — soda
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cold — an illness
  11. race — a contest
  12. spring — the season
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. spring — of water
  15. drill — the tool
  16. cold — not warm
  17. race — the arms race
  18. pop — music
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — the fish
  21. kick — in football
  22. drill — army training
  23. net — in sport
  24. pop — to visit

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