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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: root · bowl · calf · wound · track · bat · cold · date

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. track — a path
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. track — a song
  9. root — of a word
  10. bat — the animal
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. date — the fruit
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. track — to keep track
  15. root — of a plant
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. root — the cause
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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