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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
468
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: game · arm · row · roll · cold · track · present · swing

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. track — a path
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. swing — in golf
  9. game — wild animals
  10. swing — to play on
  11. roll — a list
  12. row — a line
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. present — a gift
  15. present — the time now
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. swing — music
  18. track — to keep track
  19. track — a song
  20. game — a match
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. row — to paddle
  24. present — there

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