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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: march · cold · current · last · calf · tear · kick · kid

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. current — electric
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. current — happening now
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kick — in football
  11. kid — child
  12. march — music
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. current — of water
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. march — the month
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. kid — to tease
  22. cold — an illness
  23. march — the month
  24. last — final

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