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

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. court — of law
  10. row — a line
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — for sport
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — the fish
  17. row — to paddle
  18. calf — of the leg

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