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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. spell — a short time
  4. net — in sport
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a line
  11. rock — music
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. net — after costs
  14. foot — a measure
  15. net — for catching
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. rock — a stone
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. spell — magic
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — the month

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