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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. file — a tool
  6. cell — a phone
  7. tear — from crying
  8. game — a match
  9. file — a document
  10. tear — to rip
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. pound — a weight
  14. track — a song
  15. cell — in biology
  16. wind — moving air
  17. track — a path
  18. wind — moving air
  19. tear — from crying
  20. game — wild animals
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. file — a line of people
  24. cell — in a prison

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