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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. last — final
  3. file — a document
  4. last — finally
  5. content — the amount
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — happy
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. mine — for digging
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. file — a tool
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. file — a line of people
  19. cold — not warm
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. last — to go on
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. mine — belonging to me

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