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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 120 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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. stock — shares
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. wax — to grow
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. squash — the sport
  7. cell — in biology
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cell — a phone
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. stock — goods
  16. ground — the earth
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. ground — crushed
  19. ground — a position
  20. shower — rain
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. shower — to wash
  24. squash — to crush

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