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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 124 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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. squash — the sport
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. game — a match
  5. track — to keep track
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. chest — a box
  10. game — wild animals
  11. bat — the animal
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. wake — a trail
  20. track — a path
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. track — a song

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