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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. cap — a lid
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — a line
  8. chip — for betting
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — to paddle
  12. spring — of water
  13. kid — to tease
  14. spring — the season
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. kid — child
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cap — of ice
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. spring — a coil
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. mine — for digging
  24. chip — to eat

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