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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. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. can — to be able to
  3. cold — not warm
  4. shower — to wash
  5. ground — crushed
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. ground — the earth
  8. row — to paddle
  9. clip — a video
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. clip — to cut
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. ground — a position
  18. cold — an illness
  19. clip — for paper
  20. row — a line
  21. shower — rain
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. can — a tin

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