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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. prune — to trim
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pit — in a race
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. wind — moving air
  11. row — a line
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. chest — of your body
  19. row — to paddle
  20. chest — a box
  21. pit — a hole
  22. chest — of your body
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. calf — of the leg

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