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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. race — the arms race
  6. root — the cause
  7. mine — for digging
  8. fork — in a road
  9. race — a contest
  10. hand — help
  11. perch — the fish
  12. race — humankind
  13. hand — in cards
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. root — of a word
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. wound — an injury
  20. root — of a plant
  21. wound — an injury
  22. row — to paddle
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. hand — part of the body

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