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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 120 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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. spell — magic
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spell — a short time
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. fall — to drop
  10. saw — the tool
  11. scale — in music
  12. deal — to handle
  13. spell — letters
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. fall — the season
  18. wake — a trail
  19. kick — in football
  20. cold — not warm
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — an illness
  23. scale — size or range
  24. deal — an agreement

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