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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cold — not warm
  7. scale — size or range
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. cold — an illness
  10. row — a line
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. game — a match
  13. scale — in music
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. lean — to bend
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — from a university
  22. game — wild animals
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. lean — thin

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