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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. net — after costs
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. wound — an injury
  5. lean — thin
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. net — in sport
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. present — there
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. wound — an injury
  16. lean — to bend
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. net — for catching
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. present — the time now
  24. date — on the calendar

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