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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. last — final
  3. hand — in cards
  4. staff — a stick
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. date — the fruit
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. last — finally
  9. wound — an injury
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. scale — in music
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. pass — a permit
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — to paddle
  16. last — to go on
  17. wound — an injury
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. scale — size or range
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. row — a line
  22. staff — employees
  23. staff — employees
  24. pass — to spend time

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