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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. kid — child
  3. row — a line
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. clip — a video
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. clip — for paper
  10. kid — to tease
  11. rash — a series
  12. band — a ring
  13. rash — hasty
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. row — to paddle
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. land — to come down
  21. band — a music group
  22. land — ground
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. land — a country

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