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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. drill — army training
  4. land — to come down
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. hand — help
  7. drill — the tool
  8. hand — in cards
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. ground — a position
  12. rash — a series
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. wake — a trail
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. rash — hasty
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. drill — a practice
  20. ground — crushed
  21. ground — the earth
  22. perch — the fish
  23. land — a country
  24. calf — of the leg

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