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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · court · face · content · rush · fan · tear · kick

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. tear — from crying
  4. court — of a king
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. tear — from crying
  8. face — to confront
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. court — of law
  11. content — the amount
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. face — part of the head
  15. content — happy
  16. rush — hurry
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. tear — to rip
  19. kick — in football
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. court — for sport
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. face — to point toward

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