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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. mate — a partner
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. swing — music
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mate — a friend
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. swing — to play on
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a match
  15. fine — high quality
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. swing — in golf
  19. band — a ring
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bat — the animal
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. band — a music group
  24. bat — in an idiom

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