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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: row · cold · hand · pop · tear · charge · calf · last

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. pop — soda
  3. cold — not warm
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pop — to visit
  7. tear — from crying
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. tear — from crying
  10. row — a line
  11. hand — in cards
  12. last — final
  13. charge — a price
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. charge — in control
  16. hand — help
  17. pop — music
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. tear — to rip
  21. charge — electricity
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. last — to go on
  24. row — to paddle

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