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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. hand — help
  6. clip — for paper
  7. row — a line
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. rock — a stone
  11. degree — from a university
  12. degree — an amount
  13. rock — music
  14. row — to paddle
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pound — a weight
  17. wake — a trail
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. clip — a video
  20. foot — a measure
  21. hand — in cards
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. foot — the bottom

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