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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. clip — for paper
  3. net — after costs
  4. current — electric
  5. kid — child
  6. net — in sport
  7. current — happening now
  8. row — a line
  9. object — to protest
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. object — a thing
  12. current — of water
  13. clip — to cut
  14. object — an aim
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. kid — to tease
  17. bulb — for light
  18. row — to paddle
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. net — for catching
  21. clip — a video
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. bulb — of a plant
  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