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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 giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. cold — not warm
  3. court — of a king
  4. degree — an amount
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. court — of law
  7. roll — a list
  8. cold — an illness
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bass — low music
  13. degree — temperature
  14. bass — the fish
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. court — for sport
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. roll — a cake
  24. tear — to rip

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