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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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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: wind · stand · bat · calf · drill · game · clip · pit

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. stand — to bear
  3. game — a match
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pit — in a race
  7. drill — a practice
  8. drill — the tool
  9. bat — the animal
  10. drill — army training
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. clip — a video
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. pit — a hole
  22. wind — moving air
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. bat — for baseball

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