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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. mate — to breed
  5. current — happening now
  6. mate — a friend
  7. bat — the animal
  8. rock — a stone
  9. wind — moving air
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. cold — an illness
  16. mate — a partner
  17. rock — music
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. current — of water
  20. current — electric
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wind — moving air

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