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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 giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. mine — for digging
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. scale — in music
  7. court — of law
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. clip — for paper
  10. rule — government
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. clip — a video
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. court — of a king
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. rule — a law
  19. branch — a division
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. court — for sport
  22. scale — size or range
  23. bat — the animal
  24. clip — to cut

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