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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 don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. rock — music
  3. drill — a practice
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. row — a line
  8. hand — help
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cold — an illness
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. current — electric
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. current — happening now
  18. rock — a stone
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. drill — army training
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. current — of water
  23. drill — the tool
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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