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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. clip — a video
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. object — to protest
  11. track — to keep track
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. object — a thing
  15. object — an aim
  16. track — a path
  17. wake — a trail
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. clip — for paper
  20. hand — help
  21. clip — to cut
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. hand — in cards
  24. track — a song

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