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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. current — of water
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. band — a music group
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. key — in music
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. degree — from a university
  15. key — the most important part
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bat — the animal
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. degree — an amount
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. current — electric
  22. degree — temperature
  23. current — happening now
  24. kick — in football

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