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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 116 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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. squash — the sport
  4. rash — a series
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. rash — hasty
  7. march — the month
  8. object — to protest
  9. row — to paddle
  10. track — a song
  11. spell — letters
  12. object — an aim
  13. squash — to crush
  14. file — a document
  15. track — to keep track
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. row — a line
  20. file — a tool
  21. spell — a short time
  22. object — a thing
  23. track — a path
  24. file — a line of people

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