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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wind — moving air
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. ball — a great time
  5. hand — in cards
  6. hand — help
  7. row — to paddle
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. shower — rain
  10. wind — moving air
  11. can — a tin
  12. can — a tin
  13. shower — to wash
  14. rash — hasty
  15. can — to be able to
  16. ball — a dance
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. rash — a series
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — a line

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