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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. rock — music
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. content — happy
  5. root — of a word
  6. rock — a stone
  7. row — a line
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. content — the amount
  11. hand — help
  12. tear — to rip
  13. plane — a tool
  14. row — to paddle
  15. hand — in cards
  16. tear — from crying
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. tear — from crying
  19. root — the cause
  20. last — finally
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. root — of a plant
  24. last — to go on

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