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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. swing — to play on
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. swing — in golf
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. spring — the season
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wind — moving air
  10. spring — a coil
  11. chest — a box
  12. prune — to trim
  13. swing — music
  14. row — a line
  15. chest — of your body
  16. row — to paddle
  17. spring — of water
  18. prune — to trim
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. calf — of the leg

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