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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: face · ground · swing · cold · bore · calf · kid · content

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. face — part of the head
  3. bore — to drill
  4. cold — not warm
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — music
  8. bore — to tire
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. swing — in golf
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — the earth
  14. content — the amount
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. face — to confront
  19. swing — to play on
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. face — to point toward
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — happy

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