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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 120 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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. drill — the tool
  3. row — a line
  4. drill — a practice
  5. scale — in music
  6. file — a document
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rule — government
  10. cold — not warm
  11. file — a line of people
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. scale — size or range
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. rush — hurry
  16. drill — army training
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. rule — a law
  21. cold — an illness
  22. file — a tool
  23. chair — a leader
  24. row — to paddle

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