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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. court — for sport
  3. row — a line
  4. tear — to rip
  5. chair — a leader
  6. file — a line of people
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. row — to paddle
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. file — a tool
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — of law

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