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

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. craft — boats
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. row — to paddle
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. degree — from a university
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. craft — a skill
  11. shower — to wash
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. wake — a trail
  14. rock — a stone
  15. shower — rain
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. mine — for digging
  20. rock — music
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — temperature

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