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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. row — a line
  4. bat — the animal
  5. band — a music group
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. band — a ring
  9. foot — a measure
  10. clip — a video
  11. wake — a trail
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. plane — a tool
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. rush — hurry
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — for paper

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