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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. snap — to click
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. bark — to shout
  6. file — a document
  7. kid — to tease
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. rock — a stone
  10. land — a country
  11. track — a path
  12. land — ground
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. file — a tool
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. tear — from crying
  19. kid — child
  20. file — a line of people
  21. land — to come down
  22. track — a song
  23. track — to keep track
  24. tear — from crying

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