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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pop — to visit
  4. key — for a lock
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. swing — in golf
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chest — a box
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. swing — music
  13. chest — of your body
  14. swing — to play on
  15. key — in music
  16. key — the most important part
  17. pop — music
  18. shower — to wash
  19. rule — a law
  20. rule — government
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. cold — an illness
  23. shower — rain
  24. rule — to rule out

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