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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. clip — to cut
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bore — to tire
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. current — of water
  9. current — happening now
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bound — obliged
  13. capital — money
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. current — electric
  17. bat — the animal
  18. capital — a city
  19. clip — a video
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bound — certain
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bound — tied together

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