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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. kid — to tease
  3. rash — hasty
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. board — a committee
  8. face — part of the head
  9. kid — child
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — in cards
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. board — to get on
  14. face — to confront
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. row — a line
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. degree — temperature
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. rash — a series
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. face — to point toward
  24. wake — a trail

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