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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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. craft — a skill
  4. ground — a position
  5. craft — boats
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. ground — crushed
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. content — happy
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. ground — the earth
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. row — a line
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. content — the amount
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. row — to paddle
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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