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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: wound · bat · bark · last · rule · spell · roll · row

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. rule — government
  6. wound — an injury
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. bark — to shout
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — final
  11. spell — a short time
  12. last — finally
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. row — a line
  15. spell — letters
  16. roll — a list
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. rule — a law
  21. spell — magic
  22. roll — a cake
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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