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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. drill — the tool
  3. bore — to drill
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. season — of the year
  6. can — to be able to
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. drill — a practice
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bore — to tire
  15. drill — army training
  16. can — a tin
  17. clip — to cut
  18. season — in sport
  19. can — a tin
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — child
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. cold — not warm

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