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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. file — a tool
  3. last — finally
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. drill — the tool
  6. plane — a tool
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rash — a series
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. content — the amount
  11. cold — an illness
  12. last — to go on
  13. drill — army training
  14. last — final
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. file — a line of people
  17. drill — a practice
  18. content — happy
  19. rock — a stone
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. file — a document
  22. rash — hasty
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. plane — an aircraft

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