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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 teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. file — a document
  3. shower — to wash
  4. bank — for money
  5. field — for sport
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cap — a hat
  8. rash — a series
  9. cap — a lid
  10. field — farmland
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — rain
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bank — for money
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. roll — a cake
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cap — of ice
  21. bank — of a river
  22. field — a subject
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a tool

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