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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. field — farmland
  4. shower — rain
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. field — for sport
  8. clip — a video
  9. row — to paddle
  10. mug — to rob
  11. field — a subject
  12. plane — a tool
  13. mug — a face
  14. bat — the animal
  15. spell — magic
  16. clip — to cut
  17. shower — to wash
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. clip — for paper
  22. mug — a cup
  23. spell — a short time
  24. row — a line

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