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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 spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cap — of ice
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. capital — money
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. chest — of your body
  11. capital — a city
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. bat — the animal
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — a subject
  17. cap — a hat
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. chest — a box
  21. cap — a lid
  22. shower — rain
  23. field — for sport
  24. shower — to wash

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