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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. court — for sport
  3. staff — employees
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. spring — the season
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. court — of a king
  14. staff — employees
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. spring — a coil
  17. court — of law
  18. spring — of water
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — shares
  21. fork — in a road
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. staff — a stick
  24. cold — the Cold War

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