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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: wind · cold · row · sharp · swing · saw · scale · game

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. swing — music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. game — a match
  7. scale — size or range
  8. game — wild animals
  9. cold — not warm
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. wind — moving air
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. swing — in golf
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. saw — the tool
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. row — to paddle
  19. swing — to play on
  20. scale — in music
  21. sharp — clever
  22. wind — moving air
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. scale — for weighing

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