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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 kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a great time
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. clip — a video
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. file — a document
  8. cold — an illness
  9. tear — to rip
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. tear — from crying
  12. prune — to trim
  13. file — a tool
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — not warm
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a line of people
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. tear — from crying
  23. prune — to trim
  24. clip — to cut

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