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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. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. net — in sport
  3. cold — an illness
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pass — a permit
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. wake — a trail
  11. capital — money
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. capital — a city
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. net — for catching
  18. game — a match
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. net — after costs
  23. clip — for paper
  24. game — wild animals

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