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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. swing — in golf
  4. swing — to play on
  5. bore — to tire
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. swing — music
  9. present — there
  10. present — a gift
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. bore — to drill
  14. file — a line of people
  15. cold — not warm
  16. file — a tool
  17. row — a line
  18. tear — from crying
  19. file — a document
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cell — in biology
  23. present — the time now
  24. tear — from crying

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