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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. current — happening now
  3. field — a subject
  4. clip — a video
  5. current — of water
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. clip — to cut
  8. branch — a division
  9. game — wild animals
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. game — a match
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. chest — a box
  15. squash — the sport
  16. current — electric
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. field — farmland
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. field — for sport
  21. clip — for paper
  22. squash — to crush
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. branch — of a tree

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