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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: face · content · kid · spell · race · row · wound · wind

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — to paddle
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wound — an injury
  5. race — humankind
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spell — a short time
  8. race — a contest
  9. content — the amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. face — to confront
  12. spell — letters
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. kid — child
  15. content — happy
  16. race — the arms race
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. row — a line
  19. face — part of the head
  20. spell — magic
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wind — moving air
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. face — to point toward

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