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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. wound — an injury
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. club — a group
  7. capital — a city
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. file — a document
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. club — for golf
  12. field — farmland
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. file — a tool
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. capital — money
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. field — a subject
  20. wound — an injury
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. field — for sport
  23. file — a line of people
  24. club — for dancing

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