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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. race — the arms race
  5. net — after costs
  6. pound — a weight
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. race — a contest
  9. net — in sport
  10. bark — to shout
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. net — for catching
  14. race — humankind
  15. file — a document
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. file — a line of people

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