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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 120 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 make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. file — a tool
  3. scale — in music
  4. squash — the sport
  5. squash — to crush
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. land — ground
  9. drill — a practice
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bark — to shout
  12. land — to come down
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. deal — to handle
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. scale — size or range
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. drill — the tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. file — a document
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. land — a country

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