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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 120 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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. row — a line
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — an illness
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. band — a ring
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. wake — a trail
  9. kid — to tease
  10. board — a committee
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cold — not warm
  16. board — to get on
  17. race — the arms race
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — a contest
  22. pound — a weight
  23. band — a music group
  24. pound — to hit hard

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