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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: shower · lean · cell · spell · cue · row · game · wind

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. lean — to bend
  3. spell — letters
  4. row — a line
  5. shower — to wash
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cue — for pool
  8. cue — a signal
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cue — a hint
  12. game — wild animals
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. spell — magic
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. row — to paddle
  19. shower — rain
  20. lean — thin
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — a match
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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