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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 water is too ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. swing — to play on
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pop — to visit
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. pop — soda
  8. swing — music
  9. row — to paddle
  10. face — to point toward
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bound — obliged
  14. row — a line
  15. face — part of the head
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. kick — in football
  18. swing — in golf
  19. bound — tied together
  20. pop — music
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. face — to confront
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bound — certain

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