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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. snap — to click
  3. tear — from crying
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. march — the month
  6. ball — a dance
  7. rash — hasty
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. file — a line of people
  11. march — music
  12. plane — a tool
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. file — a tool
  16. march — the month
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. rash — a series
  21. ball — a great time
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. file — a document
  24. racket — for tennis

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