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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. degree — from a university
  3. capital — a city
  4. march — the month
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. degree — an amount
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. perch — the fish
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. march — music
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — for digging
  17. degree — temperature
  18. march — the month
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. capital — money

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