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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. pop — music
  5. hand — help
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. degree — from a university
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. pop — soda
  10. row — a line
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — in cards
  14. degree — an amount
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. pop — to visit
  18. row — to paddle
  19. degree — temperature
  20. wound — an injury
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. plane — a tool
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. hand — part of the 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