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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. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bass — the fish
  4. bound — tied together
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. land — ground
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. land — to come down
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bass — low music
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bound — certain
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — not warm
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. land — a country
  23. mine — for digging
  24. tear — to rip

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