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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rash — hasty
  4. staff — a stick
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. march — music
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. hand — in cards
  12. wound — an injury
  13. row — to paddle
  14. staff — employees
  15. march — the month
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. march — the month
  18. row — a line
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. rash — a series
  21. staff — employees
  22. hand — help
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — in an idiom

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