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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. spring — the season
  4. tube — the underground
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spring — a coil
  10. swing — in golf
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kick — in football
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. sharp — clever
  18. swing — to play on
  19. tube — a container
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. spring — of water
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. swing — music
  24. sharp — with an edge

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