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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 120 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. clip — a video
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. land — to come down
  6. clip — for paper
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. land — a country
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — the season
  14. spring — a coil
  15. mug — a cup
  16. clip — to cut
  17. mug — a face
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a city
  20. land — ground
  21. mug — to rob
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. calf — of the leg

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