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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 · wound · foot · pop · march · cold · wind · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. wound — an injury
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. wound — an injury
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. foot — a measure
  7. wind — moving air
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. march — the month
  10. pop — music
  11. cell — in biology
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — soda
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. march — music
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cell — in a prison

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