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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. pop — soda
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — wild animals
  5. lie — to recline
  6. pop — to visit
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. game — a match
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. file — a line of people
  13. pop — music
  14. drill — a practice
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. file — a document
  17. fine — high quality
  18. file — a tool
  19. wound — an injury
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. drill — army training
  22. row — to paddle
  23. drill — the tool
  24. wound — an injury

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