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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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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. ball — a dance
  3. clip — for paper
  4. scale — size or range
  5. kid — child
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. kid — to tease
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — in music
  10. file — a document
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pound — a weight
  15. wax — to grow
  16. file — a tool
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. ball — a great time
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. fork — in a road
  24. clip — a video

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