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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: cold · nail · fork · pound · row · rush · pitcher · ruler

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cold — an illness
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. row — a line
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. pound — a weight
  12. cold — not warm
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. fork — in a road
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. row — to paddle
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. pound — to hit hard

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