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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. file — a tool
  3. spell — letters
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spell — a short time
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a document
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. chest — of your body
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chest — a box
  17. rock — a stone
  18. rock — music
  19. game — wild animals
  20. chest — of your body
  21. season — in sport
  22. spell — magic
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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