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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: net · nail · fan · date · staff · row · racket · cold

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. row — a line
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. date — the fruit
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. staff — employees
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. row — to paddle
  17. staff — a stick
  18. net — after costs
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — for catching
  24. staff — employees

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