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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: cold · club · rock · game · row · last · tear · mouse

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. club — for dancing
  3. tear — from crying
  4. last — finally
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. cold — not warm
  8. game — wild animals
  9. last — final
  10. game — a match
  11. club — for golf
  12. rock — music
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. last — to go on
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. rock — a stone
  17. cold — an illness
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a line
  20. club — a group
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — to rip
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. cold — the Cold War

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