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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. firm — steady
  3. row — a line
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. firm — a company
  6. firm — decided
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. bark — to shout
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. scale — size or range
  13. clip — a video
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. scale — in music
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. spell — a short time
  20. clip — to cut
  21. net — for catching
  22. spell — magic
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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