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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. sharp — clever
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. file — a line of people
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. field — for sport
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. band — a ring
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. file — a document
  14. drill — the tool
  15. file — a tool
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. field — farmland
  18. capital — money
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bark — to shout
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. field — a subject
  23. drill — army training
  24. capital — a city

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