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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  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. wind — moving air
  3. shower — rain
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. shower — to wash
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. pitch — completely
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. squash — the sport
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. chair — a leader
  17. row — to paddle
  18. wind — moving air
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. squash — to crush
  21. row — a line
  22. bat — the animal
  23. snap — to click
  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