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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — a stick
  4. staff — employees
  5. row — to paddle
  6. row — a line
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — a match
  9. degree — an amount
  10. track — a song
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. rest — a break
  14. degree — from a university
  15. rest — what's left
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a path
  18. kid — child
  19. file — a tool
  20. game — wild animals
  21. rest — what's left
  22. degree — temperature
  23. kid — to tease
  24. file — a line of people

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