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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: fall · press · kick · kid · field · squash · sharp · rash

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kid — child
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. squash — to crush
  6. field — for sport
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. rash — a series
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. press — a publisher
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. field — a subject
  15. press — newspapers
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. fall — to drop
  19. rash — hasty
  20. kid — to tease
  21. kick — in football
  22. squash — the sport
  23. press — to push
  24. field — farmland

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