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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. spring — of water
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. chest — of your body
  6. ground — crushed
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. clip — a video
  9. chest — a box
  10. bat — the animal
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. spring — the season
  20. clip — for paper
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. ground — the earth
  24. bat — in an idiom

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