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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: march · row · kid · land · root · fall · track · rest

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. march — music
  3. land — to come down
  4. fall — the season
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. rest — what's left
  8. track — a path
  9. track — a song
  10. root — the cause
  11. kid — child
  12. land — a country
  13. root — of a word
  14. fall — to drop
  15. root — of a plant
  16. rest — a break
  17. land — ground
  18. kid — to tease
  19. march — the month
  20. fall — to drop
  21. track — to keep track
  22. march — the month
  23. rest — what's left
  24. row — to paddle

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