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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: straw · file · spell · kick · land · cell · bark · calf

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. spell — a short time
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. land — a country
  6. cell — a phone
  7. spell — magic
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. spell — letters
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. file — a document
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. kick — in football
  17. bark — to shout
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cell — in biology
  21. file — a tool
  22. land — to come down
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. file — a line of people

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