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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. cold — not warm
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. clip — a video
  7. march — music
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chair — a leader
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. bulb — for light
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. march — the month
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. season — in sport
  23. season — of the year
  24. march — the month

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