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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 120 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: nail · cell · row · game · march · spring · rush · bulb

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. row — to paddle
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. march — music
  6. spring — the season
  7. cell — a phone
  8. row — a line
  9. march — the month
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. spring — of water
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bulb — for light
  14. rush — hurry
  15. march — the month
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. game — a match
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. bulb — for light
  24. cell — in biology

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