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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — the tool
  6. fork — in a road
  7. file — a tool
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. spell — magic
  11. file — a document
  12. cold — an illness
  13. band — a ring
  14. game — a match
  15. spell — a short time
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. spell — letters
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. cold — not warm
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. band — a music group
  23. drill — army training
  24. game — wild animals

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