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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. tear — from crying
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. cold — an illness
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tear — to rip
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. tear — from crying
  20. march — music
  21. sharp — clever
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — rain

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