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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. kick — in football
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. track — a song
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. track — to keep track
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. rule — a law
  11. file — a line of people
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. rule — government
  14. file — a document
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. cell — a phone
  17. wake — a trail
  18. file — a tool
  19. scale — in music
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. scale — size or range
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — not warm

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