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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. rest — a break
  3. row — a line
  4. last — final
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. bore — to tire
  8. rest — what's left
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rest — what's left
  11. last — finally
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. fork — in a road
  21. cold — not warm
  22. last — to go on
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. bore — to drill

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