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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. saw — the tool
  3. hand — in cards
  4. ground — a position
  5. wind — moving air
  6. row — a line
  7. wind — moving air
  8. net — for catching
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. ground — crushed
  14. content — the amount
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. net — after costs
  17. saw — the tool
  18. ground — the earth
  19. hand — help
  20. bass — the fish
  21. net — in sport
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. content — happy
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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