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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. kid — to tease
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. land — a country
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. tube — a container
  15. perch — the fish
  16. kid — child
  17. land — to come down
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. land — ground
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. tube — the underground
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. wax — to grow

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