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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 · kid · can · bear · tear · row · ground · cold

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. can — a tin
  3. can — a tin
  4. row — to paddle
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. tear — from crying
  7. row — a line
  8. ground — a position
  9. can — to be able to
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. ground — crushed
  14. tear — from crying
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bear — the animal
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. tear — to rip
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. ground — the earth
  22. bear — the animal
  23. kid — child
  24. row — a quarrel

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