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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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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: chair · row · tear · wind · spell · race · fine · cold

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. row — a line
  3. chair — a leader
  4. tear — to rip
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cold — an illness
  10. tear — from crying
  11. row — to paddle
  12. race — humankind
  13. fine — high quality
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spell — a short time
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. fine — all right
  20. race — a contest
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — letters
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. race — the arms race

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