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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 120 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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. cold — an illness
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. file — a line of people
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. cold — not warm
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. file — a document
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. lean — to bend
  12. lean — thin
  13. file — a tool
  14. kick — in football
  15. track — to keep track
  16. track — a path
  17. branch — a division
  18. kick — with a leg

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