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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. wound — an injury
  3. row — a line
  4. scale — in music
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — to paddle
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. spell — a short time
  9. spell — letters
  10. cold — not warm
  11. sharp — clever
  12. present — a gift
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. present — the time now
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. cold — an illness
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — to come from
  23. present — there
  24. wound — an injury

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