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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. fall — to drop
  3. perch — the fish
  4. band — a ring
  5. file — a document
  6. drill — a practice
  7. present — a gift
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a music group
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. pit — a hole
  15. drill — army training
  16. fall — the season
  17. file — a line of people
  18. land — a country
  19. fall — to drop
  20. present — there
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. pit — in a race
  23. present — the time now
  24. drill — the tool

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