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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  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. game — a match
  2. saw — the tool
  3. toast — bread
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. roll — a cake
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a document
  13. game — wild animals
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. roll — a list
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — to come from
  19. saw — the tool
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chest — of your body
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  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