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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. lean — thin
  5. file — a document
  6. chest — of your body
  7. date — the fruit
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. current — happening now
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. kid — child
  12. file — a tool
  13. lean — to bend
  14. current — electric
  15. mine — for digging
  16. chest — a box
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. march — the month
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. file — a line of people
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. chest — of your body
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. current — of water

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