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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 116 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: wind · rush · bore · row · last · clip · field · bass

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. field — for sport
  3. bass — low music
  4. field — farmland
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. field — a subject
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. last — finally
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. rush — hurry
  11. bass — the fish
  12. bore — to drill
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. bore — to tire
  17. last — to go on
  18. row — a line
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. row — to paddle
  21. last — final
  22. clip — for paper
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bass — the instrument

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