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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. wax — to grow
  3. last — final
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. march — the month
  7. drill — a practice
  8. march — the month
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. last — to go on
  11. march — music
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. clip — a video
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. drill — the tool
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. drill — army training
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. last — finally
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. clip — to cut

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