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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: dip · straw · cold · pop · mine · kick · capital · pit

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. pit — a hole
  9. pop — to visit
  10. pit — in a race
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. kick — in football
  14. dip — to sink
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. mine — for digging
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — soda
  21. capital — money
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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