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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. cue — for pool
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. clip — a video
  8. cell — a phone
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. clip — to cut
  13. bat — the animal
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cue — a hint
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — to wash
  18. lean — to bend
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cue — a signal
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. clip — for paper
  24. lean — thin

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