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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 116 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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — in sport
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. cold — an illness
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. wind — moving air
  8. rule — a law
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ground — the earth
  11. net — for catching
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ground — a position
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. spell — letters
  16. rule — government
  17. cold — not warm
  18. file — a tool
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. spell — magic
  22. ground — crushed
  23. spell — a short time
  24. file — a line of people

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