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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. shower — to wash
  3. row — a line
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. root — of a plant
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. wake — a trail
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kick — in football
  15. root — of a word
  16. season — of the year
  17. band — a ring
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. band — a music group
  20. shower — rain
  21. root — the cause
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. row — to paddle

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