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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. row — a line
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hand — in cards
  9. lean — thin
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. root — of a plant
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. vault — a safe
  14. lean — to bend
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. net — for catching
  17. root — of a word
  18. root — the cause
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. net — in sport
  21. row — to paddle
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. net — after costs

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