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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a match
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. march — the month
  8. squash — to crush
  9. march — music
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. squash — the sport
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. wound — an injury
  19. row — to paddle
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. march — the month
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. row — a line
  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