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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. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. season — in sport
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. clip — a video
  10. present — there
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. present — a gift
  13. file — a tool
  14. mine — for digging
  15. cell — a phone
  16. present — the time now
  17. cell — in biology
  18. clip — to cut
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. season — of the year
  21. file — a line of people
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. clip — for paper
  24. file — a document

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