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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. fall — to drop
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. fall — the season
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. kick — in football
  13. chest — of your body
  14. snap — to click
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. season — of the year
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. season — in sport
  20. chest — a box
  21. fall — to drop
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. shower — to wash

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