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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: patient · calf · kid · shower · last · clip · toast · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — not warm
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. last — final
  6. shower — to wash
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kid — child
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. kid — to tease
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. clip — to cut
  16. last — to go on
  17. toast — bread
  18. clip — a video
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. last — finally
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. clip — for paper
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. shower — rain

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