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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · chip · tear · last · nail · cold

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. last — to go on
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. last — finally
  5. tear — from crying
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. chip — for betting
  8. kick — in football
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. tear — to rip
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. tear — from crying
  14. last — final
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chip — to eat
  18. cold — an illness

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