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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 protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. ground — a position
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bound — tied together
  6. capital — money
  7. march — music
  8. bound — certain
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. ground — the earth
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. march — the month
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. ground — crushed
  16. march — the month
  17. bound — obliged
  18. capital — a city
  19. clip — a video
  20. row — a line
  21. row — to paddle
  22. clip — to cut
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. clip — for paper

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