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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: pitcher · row · game · ground · tear · calf · wind · file

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. tear — from crying
  5. ground — a position
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a tool
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. row — a line
  13. row — to paddle
  14. tear — from crying
  15. game — a match
  16. tear — to rip
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. file — a document
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. ground — crushed
  23. game — wild animals
  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