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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a line of people
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. wind — moving air
  12. file — a document
  13. wind — moving air
  14. foot — a measure
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. cold — not warm
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. calf — a young animal

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