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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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. pit — a fruit stone
  4. capital — money
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. lean — to bend
  7. branch — a division
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. kick — in football
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. board — a committee
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. lean — thin
  15. pit — a hole
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pit — in a race
  20. board — to get on
  21. capital — a city
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. content — the amount

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