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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rest — a break
  3. craft — boats
  4. row — to paddle
  5. band — a ring
  6. spell — letters
  7. wind — moving air
  8. craft — a skill
  9. spell — a short time
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. drill — army training
  12. drill — a practice
  13. drill — the tool
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wind — moving air
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. band — a music group
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. rest — what's left
  21. spell — magic
  22. row — a line
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. kid — child

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