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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pound — a weight
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. squash — the sport
  6. land — a country
  7. squash — to crush
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. race — humankind
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. kick — in football
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. race — a contest
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. race — the arms 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