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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. He is an ace ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. file — a line of people
  5. bound — tied together
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bound — certain
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. sharp — clever
  11. bound — obliged
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. kick — in football
  15. pass — a permit
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. file — a tool
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. dip — to sink
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. file — a document

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