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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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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: root · capital · calf · land · file · shower · kid · lash

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. kid — child
  5. land — to come down
  6. capital — a city
  7. shower — to wash
  8. land — ground
  9. root — of a word
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. file — a document
  12. land — a country
  13. root — of a plant
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. kid — to tease
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. shower — rain
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. file — a tool
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. root — the cause
  22. file — a line of people
  23. capital — money
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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