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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. swing — to play on
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. ground — crushed
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. swing — music
  11. roll — a list
  12. pitch — completely
  13. ground — a position
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. swing — in golf
  19. cell — in biology
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. bat — the animal
  23. roll — a cake
  24. roll — on a roll

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