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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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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: straw · wake · row · cell · fall · rash · march · bowl

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. wake — a trail
  3. rash — hasty
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. row — a line
  6. rash — a series
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. march — the month
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. fall — the season
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. row — to paddle
  16. march — the month
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. cell — a phone
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cell — in biology
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — to drop
  23. march — music
  24. wake — before a funeral

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