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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 water is too ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. track — a path
  3. track — to keep track
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. track — a song
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. wake — a trail
  10. file — a tool
  11. cold — an illness
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. swing — to play on
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a document
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. file — a line of people
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. foot — a measure
  21. swing — music
  22. swing — in golf
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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