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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. hand — in cards
  4. row — a line
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to click
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wind — moving air
  12. chip — for betting
  13. file — a line of people
  14. wake — a trail
  15. hand — help
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. chip — to eat
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bass — the fish
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. row — to paddle
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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