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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. suit — in cards
  3. drill — a practice
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. cold — an illness
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. land — ground
  10. clip — to cut
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. drill — army training
  13. pop — music
  14. pop — soda
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pop — to visit
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. clip — a video
  19. drill — the tool
  20. suit — clothes
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. calf — a young animal

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