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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. saw — the tool
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. saw — the tool
  9. pound — a weight
  10. squash — to crush
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a line of people
  13. chest — a box
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. file — a document
  16. mark — a trace
  17. wax — to grow
  18. squash — the sport
  19. row — a line
  20. mark — a grade
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. chest — of your body

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