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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. file — a line of people
  3. roll — a list
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. spell — magic
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. roll — a cake
  9. file — a tool
  10. spell — letters
  11. lean — to bend
  12. file — a document
  13. drill — a practice
  14. hand — in cards
  15. spell — a short time
  16. hand — help
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. lean — thin
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — to wash
  22. drill — the tool
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. drill — army training

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