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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 giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. clip — for paper
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. tear — from crying
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. cell — in biology
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. tear — from crying
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. tear — to rip
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. rush — hurry
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. cell — in a prison

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