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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 116 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. branch — a division
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. kid — child
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. court — of law
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. row — a line
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. court — of a king
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. kid — to tease
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. row — to paddle
  22. court — for sport
  23. cold — an illness
  24. perch — the fish

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