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

Word bank: calf · chest · kid · clip · lean · straw · trunk · bark

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. chest — a box
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. lean — thin
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — to tease
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. bark — to shout
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. chest — of your body
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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