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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. land — a country
  3. degree — temperature
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. land — ground
  6. chest — a box
  7. root — of a word
  8. wound — an injury
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. root — of a plant
  11. chest — of your body
  12. degree — an amount
  13. swing — music
  14. land — to come down
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. swing — in golf
  19. degree — from a university
  20. swing — to play on
  21. root — the cause
  22. wound — an injury
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. chest — of your body

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