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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: stand · kid · face · field · calf · mouse · clip · wind

  1. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. face — to confront
  4. field — for sport
  5. stand — to bear
  6. clip — a video
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. clip — for paper
  10. face — part of the head
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. clip — to cut
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. field — farmland
  16. kid — child
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. kid — to tease
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. face — to point toward
  24. field — a subject

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