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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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Word bank
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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: shower · nail · chair · calf · clip · mark · bat · bulb

  1. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. shower — to wash
  12. mark — a trace
  13. mark — a grade
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. bat — the animal
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. clip — a video
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. bulb — for light
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. bulb — for light

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