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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. wound — an injury
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. pass — a permit
  5. pop — music
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cap — a lid
  8. row — a line
  9. field — a subject
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. field — farmland
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. pop — soda
  17. pop — to visit
  18. field — for sport
  19. cap — of ice
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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