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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. land — ground
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. fall — to drop
  6. bark — to shout
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. fall — to drop
  9. stock — shares
  10. file — a line of people
  11. land — a country
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. fine — all right
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. fall — the season
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. scale — in music
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. land — to come down
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. scale — size or range
  24. stock — goods

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