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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. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. bark — to shout
  4. court — of law
  5. court — for sport
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. shower — rain
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — an illness
  12. current — of water
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — to wash
  16. court — of a king
  17. chest — a box
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. current — happening now
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. current — electric
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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