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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 did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. bass — low music
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. can — a tin
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. content — the amount
  8. content — happy
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. bass — the fish
  12. cold — an illness
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. date — the fruit
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. can — a tin
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. can — to be able to
  24. stem — to come from

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