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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. kid — child
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. wound — an injury
  7. can — to be able to
  8. field — farmland
  9. cold — not warm
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. field — for sport
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. can — a tin
  14. can — a tin
  15. bore — to tire
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. game — a match
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bore — to drill
  22. wound — an injury
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. kid — to tease

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