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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. race — the arms race
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. bat — the animal
  11. spring — a coil
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. spring — the season
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — for paper
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. clip — a video
  19. mine — for digging
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. spring — of water
  24. race — humankind

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