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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: wind · row · file · scale · spell · bore · land · kid

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. land — to come down
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. bore — to drill
  6. kid — child
  7. file — a line of people
  8. row — a line
  9. file — a document
  10. spell — magic
  11. land — ground
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. wind — moving air
  14. scale — size or range
  15. file — a tool
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bore — to tire
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. scale — in music
  20. row — to paddle
  21. land — a country
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. kid — to tease

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