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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.

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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: land · hand · saw · net · plane · row · squash · calf

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. hand — help
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. squash — to crush
  6. saw — the tool
  7. land — ground
  8. hand — in cards
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. land — to come down
  12. saw — the tool
  13. row — to paddle
  14. land — a country
  15. net — in sport
  16. row — a line
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. net — after costs
  19. squash — the sport
  20. plane — a tool
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. net — for catching
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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