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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. hand — help
  4. root — of a plant
  5. file — a line of people
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. file — a tool
  8. race — the arms race
  9. net — after costs
  10. hand — in cards
  11. file — a document
  12. net — for catching
  13. snap — to click
  14. race — a contest
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. root — the cause
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. root — of a word
  19. race — humankind
  20. net — in sport
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mine — for digging
  24. rock — a stone

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