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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: stick · race · mate · firm · hand · wind · row · date

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. mate — a friend
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. firm — decided
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. mate — a partner
  7. hand — in cards
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. race — a contest
  12. race — the arms race
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. date — the fruit
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. firm — a company
  20. hand — help
  21. firm — steady
  22. wind — moving air
  23. race — humankind
  24. wind — to turn a key

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