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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 is an ace ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. fall — the season
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. file — a line of people
  5. fall — to drop
  6. file — a tool
  7. fall — to drop
  8. hand — in cards
  9. date — the fruit
  10. file — a document
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. kid — child
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. stand — to bear
  18. hand — help
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. kid — to tease
  23. bark — to shout
  24. date — on the calendar

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