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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. file — a line of people
  4. rush — hurry
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. wake — a trail
  7. mug — a cup
  8. file — a tool
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. roll — a cake
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. roll — a list
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. wind — moving air
  16. branch — a division
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. mug — to rob
  19. file — a document
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. branch — of a bank

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