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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. race — the arms race
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. prune — to trim
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. cold — an illness
  11. squash — to crush
  12. race — humankind
  13. prune — to trim
  14. hand — in cards
  15. rock — music
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — not warm
  18. race — a contest
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. squash — the sport
  21. hand — help
  22. rock — a stone
  23. row — to paddle
  24. squash — the vegetable

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