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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. saw — the tool
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. file — a document
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a tool
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — letters
  10. net — for catching
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. net — in sport
  13. net — after costs
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cold — an illness
  18. spell — a short time
  19. bound — obliged
  20. bound — certain
  21. bound — tied together
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. saw — the tool
  24. game — a match

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