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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. face — to point toward
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. track — to keep track
  15. track — a song
  16. track — a path
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. face — part of the head
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. perch — the fish
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. face — to confront
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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