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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. spell — a short time
  3. lean — to bend
  4. band — a music group
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — a line
  7. mine — for digging
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. row — to paddle
  16. lean — thin
  17. spell — letters
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. spell — magic
  22. band — a ring
  23. squash — to crush
  24. branch — a division

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