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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. craft — boats
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wound — an injury
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. row — to paddle
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. craft — a skill
  11. chair — a leader
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. rush — hurry
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. bat — the animal
  17. wake — a trail
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. rash — a series
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bat — for baseball

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