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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cold — not warm
  7. tube — a container
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. game — a match
  13. chair — a leader
  14. file — a line of people
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. perch — the fish
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. file — a tool
  20. tube — the underground
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. file — a document
  23. fork — in a road
  24. cold — an illness

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