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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chair · row · tear · wind · spell · race

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. spell — magic
  3. race — the arms race
  4. tear — to rip
  5. race — a contest
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. spell — letters
  8. row — a line
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chair — a leader
  12. row — to paddle
  13. race — humankind
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wind — moving air
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. spell — a short time

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