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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. saw — the tool
  5. wake — a trail
  6. hand — in cards
  7. ball — a great time
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. hand — help
  10. file — a line of people
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. file — a tool
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. ball — a dance
  20. bass — the fish
  21. saw — the tool
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. bass — low music
  24. file — a document

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