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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: bay · calf · mine · net · cold · clip · tear · fork

  1. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — to keep at bay
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. fork — in a road
  7. clip — for paper
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. tear — from crying
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. cold — not warm
  12. net — in sport
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. net — for catching
  17. tear — from crying
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tear — to rip
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. clip — a video
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. net — after costs
  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