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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 116 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: bulb · plane · hand · board · tear · row · bass · kid

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bass — the fish
  3. bulb — for light
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. board — a committee
  8. board — to get on
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bass — low music
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bulb — for light
  13. tear — to rip
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. tear — from crying
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. plane — a tool
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. hand — help
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a line
  24. kid — child

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