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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. chest — of your body
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. chest — a box
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. chair — a leader
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wound — an injury
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. row — to paddle
  20. stock — shares
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. stock — goods
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wind — moving air

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