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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. plane — a tool
  14. row — a line
  15. pass — a permit
  16. clip — a video
  17. row — to paddle
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. clip — to cut
  20. kid — to tease
  21. roll — a list
  22. roll — a cake
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. cold — an illness

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