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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. object — an aim
  3. file — a document
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — farmland
  7. spring — the season
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — for sport
  12. pop — music
  13. pop — soda
  14. field — a subject
  15. file — a line of people
  16. object — a thing
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. pop — to visit
  20. file — a tool
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. cold — not warm
  23. object — to protest
  24. spring — of water

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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