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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 120 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. pop — soda
  3. cold — an illness
  4. file — a line of people
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. cold — not warm
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. file — a document
  11. perch — the fish
  12. pop — music
  13. pop — to visit
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. hand — help
  18. perch — for a bird

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