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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: mate · squash · chair · pound · kid · row · rock · march

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. mate — to breed
  4. kid — child
  5. rock — a stone
  6. mate — a partner
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. row — a line
  10. pound — a weight
  11. squash — the sport
  12. chair — a leader
  13. march — the month
  14. mate — a friend
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. march — music
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. squash — to crush
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — to tease
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. march — the month

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