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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 120 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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — to paddle
  3. spell — magic
  4. sharp — clever
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. spell — letters
  7. ground — a position
  8. row — a line
  9. cold — not warm
  10. ground — crushed
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. firm — a company
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. firm — decided
  17. firm — steady
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. spell — a short time
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wax — to grow

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