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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. row — a line
  5. bat — the animal
  6. hand — in cards
  7. lie — to recline
  8. present — there
  9. file — a tool
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. snap — to click
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. file — a line of people
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. present — the time now
  20. file — a document
  21. hand — help
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. present — a gift

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