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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. row — to paddle
  3. clip — to cut
  4. row — a line
  5. bank — of a river
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. bank — for money
  12. clip — a video
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bank — for money
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. pound — a weight
  17. land — ground
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. perch — the fish
  22. land — to come down
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. land — a country

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