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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. root — the cause
  4. last — finally
  5. root — of a word
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. drill — army training
  8. root — of a plant
  9. rock — a stone
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. rock — music
  12. drill — a practice
  13. row — a line
  14. row — to paddle
  15. shower — rain
  16. capital — a city
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. drill — the tool
  19. last — final
  20. last — to go on
  21. capital — money
  22. ball — a dance
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. ball — a great time

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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