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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. shower — rain
  4. scale — in music
  5. capital — a city
  6. net — after costs
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wake — a trail
  9. net — for catching
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. row — a line
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. shower — to wash
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. scale — size or range
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. row — to paddle
  21. net — in sport
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. capital — money

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