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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. saw — the tool
  3. band — a ring
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. row — a line
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. game — a match
  10. band — a music group
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. bat — the animal
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. game — wild animals

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