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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. club — for golf
  6. file — a line of people
  7. mine — for digging
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. file — a tool
  10. club — a group
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — to shout
  13. club — for dancing
  14. content — happy
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. file — a document
  18. race — a contest
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. content — the amount
  21. race — humankind
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. snap — to click
  24. race — the arms race

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