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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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Word bank
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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: game · cold · bound · mine · stem · rush · squash · kick

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. bound — certain
  3. squash — to crush
  4. game — a match
  5. game — wild animals
  6. cold — an illness
  7. squash — the sport
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. stem — to come from
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. kick — in football
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bound — tied together
  21. bound — obliged
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. rush — hurry
  24. mine — for digging

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