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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. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. clip — a video
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — for paper
  6. face — to confront
  7. race — a contest
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. cold — an illness
  10. face — part of the head
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. face — to point toward
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. chest — a box
  21. clip — to cut
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. race — humankind

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