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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. tear — from crying
  6. row — to paddle
  7. field — farmland
  8. tear — from crying
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. bark — to shout
  11. row — a line
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. tear — to rip
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. prune — to trim
  18. field — a subject
  19. clip — a video
  20. field — for sport
  21. clip — to cut
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — the fruit

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