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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: dip · kid · bass · clip · last · ground · calf · spring

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. spring — the season
  4. last — finally
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. last — final
  8. clip — for paper
  9. dip — to sink
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. last — to go on
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. spring — a coil
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. clip — to cut
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. spring — of water
  21. ground — the earth
  22. ground — a position
  23. clip — a video
  24. dip — a sauce

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