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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: row · spell · shower · clip · wake · branch · firm · bore

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. firm — a company
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. shower — to wash
  7. firm — steady
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bore — to tire
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. bore — to drill
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. wake — a trail
  14. clip — a video
  15. row — a line
  16. spell — magic
  17. shower — rain
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. spell — a short time
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. firm — decided
  23. spell — letters
  24. branch — a division

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