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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 116 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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. present — the time now
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. hand — help
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. hand — in cards
  12. scale — size or range
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. present — there
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. game — wild animals
  18. clip — a video
  19. game — a match
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. ball — a great time
  23. scale — in music
  24. ball — a dance

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