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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. ground — a position
  3. file — a line of people
  4. degree — an amount
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. degree — temperature
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. file — a tool
  9. degree — from a university
  10. tear — to rip
  11. ground — the earth
  12. file — a document
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. hand — help
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. ground — crushed
  21. pound — a weight
  22. sharp — clever
  23. sharp — with an edge
  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