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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. season — in sport
  4. row — a line
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. plane — a tool
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. pound — a weight
  11. hand — in cards
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. row — to paddle
  16. bass — low music
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bat — the animal
  19. season — of the year
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. bass — the fish

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