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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. roll — a list
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. field — farmland
  6. tube — a container
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. capital — a city
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — size or range
  12. clip — for paper
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. field — a subject
  18. scale — in music
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. field — for sport
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. roll — a cake

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