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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. rash — hasty
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. object — an aim
  5. object — to protest
  6. chest — of your body
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. object — a thing
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. land — a country
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. land — to come down
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. wound — an injury
  20. rash — a series
  21. degree — from a university
  22. chest — of your body
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chest — a box

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