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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. kid — child
  4. court — of a king
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. scale — in music
  8. shower — to wash
  9. spell — a short time
  10. pop — music
  11. shower — rain
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. kid — to tease
  14. court — of law
  15. court — for sport
  16. spell — magic
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. dip — to sink
  21. pop — soda
  22. scale — size or range
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. pop — to visit

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