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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. drill — a practice
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. clip — a video
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wind — moving air
  10. rush — hurry
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. row — a line
  18. pitch — completely
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — army training

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