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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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Word bank
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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: chest · wound · pitcher · wake · jam · pop · row · lie

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. lie — to recline
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pop — music
  8. chest — of your body
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. pop — to visit
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. chest — a box
  17. row — a line
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. pop — soda
  21. wound — an injury
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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