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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: present · kick · clip · date · fan · bat · content · calf

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. present — a gift
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. date — the fruit
  7. clip — a video
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. present — the time now
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — happy
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. content — the amount
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. kick — in football
  18. clip — to cut
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. present — there
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bat — the animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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