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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. capital — money
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. cold — not warm
  9. spell — letters
  10. clip — for paper
  11. spell — a short time
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. mine — for digging
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — an illness
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rest — what's left
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rest — a break
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. spell — magic
  24. calf — of the leg

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