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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 can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. row — to paddle
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. date — the fruit
  8. row — a line
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. cell — a phone
  21. game — a match
  22. cell — in biology
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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