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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — an illness
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. roll — a cake
  6. pit — in a race
  7. drill — a practice
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chest — of your body
  10. lean — to bend
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pit — a hole
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. capital — money
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. cold — not warm
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. lean — thin
  20. drill — army training
  21. drill — the tool
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. roll — a list

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