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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 116 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 did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. land — to come down
  3. wound — an injury
  4. net — after costs
  5. fall — to drop
  6. mine — for digging
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. net — in sport
  9. land — ground
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. fall — to drop
  12. land — a country
  13. fall — the season
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. net — for catching
  16. bat — the animal
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. calf — a young animal

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