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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: wound · leaves · pitcher · hand · season · rock · file · wake

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. file — a tool
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. file — a document
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. wound — an injury
  14. season — of the year
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. hand — in cards
  17. rock — music
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — help
  20. file — a line of people
  21. rock — a stone
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. season — in sport
  24. wake — a trail

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