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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. present — there
  3. game — a match
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. present — the time now
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. chest — a box
  11. bear — the animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. shower — to wash
  14. present — a gift
  15. bear — the animal
  16. rash — a series
  17. game — wild animals
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. capital — a city
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. capital — money
  24. shower — rain

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