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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. rock — music
  3. ground — a position
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bark — to shout
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. rash — hasty
  18. ground — the earth
  19. clip — a video
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rock — a stone
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. rash — a series

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