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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. land — to come down
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. face — part of the head
  6. hand — help
  7. land — ground
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. face — to confront
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. row — to paddle
  12. clip — for paper
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. hand — in cards
  15. row — a line
  16. wake — a trail
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. land — a country
  19. chair — a leader
  20. clip — a video
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. face — to point toward

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