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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. swing — to play on
  4. swing — in golf
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. swing — music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. file — a tool
  12. land — to come down
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. land — a country
  15. spell — a short time
  16. spell — magic
  17. pass — a permit
  18. land — ground
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bark — to shout
  21. file — a document
  22. band — a ring
  23. band — a music group
  24. spell — letters

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